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Added on the 19/10/2021 15:18:29 - Copyright : France 24 EN
Three years after Beirut’s massive port blast, attempts to prosecute those responsible are mired in political intrigue and many Lebanese have less faith than ever in their disintegrating state institutions.
Relatives of Beirut port blast victims march towards the blast site, to mark two years since the massive dockside explosion ripped through the Lebanese capital. IMAGES
Lebanon's leading Christian cleric said there could be no immunity from prosecution over the catastrophic Beirut port blast and that officials were evading investigation, as many Lebanese marked the first anniversary by demanding justice. As Lebanon suffers a crippling economic collapse, Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rai also criticized the ruling class for failing to deal with the crisis - criticism echoed by Western powers at a Paris donors' conference. One year since the blast, caused by a huge quantity of ammonium nitrate kept at the port for years, no senior official has been held to account, infuriating many Lebanese. Lebanon's high-ranking government officials have been widely accused of obstructing the on-going investigation, and they continue to block the lead investigator Judge Tarek Bitar at every turn. And despite the intense pressure at home and abroad, Beirut lawyer Diane Assaf does not believe that the Lebanese legal system "is capable of reaching the truth or holding the murderers accountable." For there to be justice, Ms. Assaf asserts that "we need the establishment of an international, impartial and independent investigative mission. A letter has been sent from approximately 50-52 international NGOs and family victims to the United Nations Human Rights Council to demand an establishment of this investigative mission." Back in July, former PM Saad Hariri went as far as proposing a parliament vote on an amendment to the constitution that would waive immunity for high-ranking government officials. Ms. Assaf explains why that would not be a good idea. "His position is clearly to absorb the frustration and the anger of the Lebanese people, and amending the constitution is a very complicated and difficult process. It will probably never happen. They just need to lift the immunity (immediately) and no need to amend the constitution."
Psychiatrists, therapists and NGO workers cite a surge in Lebanese seeking psychological care over the past year as the country's deepening financial crisis combined with the explosion and a global pandemic weigh heavily on the population. Rony Mecattaf, Executive Coach and Psychotherapist, was just a few hundred meters from the port when the explosion went off. "I lost my eyesight because of the explosion. The apartment that I was in was completely blown and torn apart. And so it's particularly emotional for me to be here exactly a year later." His line of work has been incredibly useful in the healing process. "Being a psychotherapist has tremendously helped me in working through the trauma that, until then, I was mostly seeing in clients." And in turn Mr. Mecattaf has become more empathetic towards his clients. "When you have suffered yourself, it is more accessible to be empathetic to people who have suffered something similar. So I'm sure it has created something more humane, less clinical." As Beirut continues to grieve, Mr. Mecattaf laments that "mental health issues in general in Lebanon have been under a certain stigma. It's difficult to talk about it, and so this has added to the difficulty to process it," Mr. Mecattaf explains, "They're still in a state of shock a year later and that can not be very healthy." Yet Mr. Mecattaf remains optimistic over the long haul. "There is an incredible strength and dignity that I find in the Lebanese public, and I was really witnessing that today. And I have the sense that, collectively, we will come through."
Thousands of grief-stricken Lebanese marched Wednesday to mark a year since a cataclysmic explosion ravaged Beirut, protesting impunity over the country's worst peacetime disaster at a time when its economy was already in tatters. Shortly after 6:00 pm on August 4, 2020, a stock of ammonium nitrate fertiliser haphazardly stored at the city's port exploded and left swathes of the Lebanese capital looking like a war zone. What went down as one of the largest non-nuclear blasts in history killed at least 214 people, levelled entire neighbourhoods, irreparably scarred the nation's psyche and deepened the country's economic abyss. France 24's correspondent Sally Farhat tells us more.
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