'We will never recover': Families of Beirut blast victims continue to struggle for justice three years on

Ayman Nour El Dine should have celebrated his 30th birthday this year, marking six years since graduating from the military academy in August of 2017 and pursuing his dream of becoming a top-ranking military officer. However, fate had other plans.

His sister, Sarwat Nour El Dine, and his mother, Nada, still find themselves waiting for him to walk through the door, unable to fathom that the beloved younger brother and son they pampered and loved is no longer with them.

Ayman was among the unfortunate 218 souls who tragically lost their lives in the devastating Beirut blast explosion of 2020. The detonation of tonnes of ammonium nitrate levelled much of the capital, inflicting irreversible physical, mental, and emotional damage on countless lives.

Adding to the misery, Lebanon has plunged into a severe and ongoing economic crisis, exacerbated by a prolonged presidential vacuum and the recent departure of Lebanon's tainted central bank chief, Riad Salameh, after three decades in power.

"For us, the families of the victims, the incident still feels like it happened yesterday, and the pain seems to intensify with each passing day. I don't think we will ever recover"

With a lack of reforms, no new president in sight, and the absence of viable economic policies, many Lebanese citizens have taken matters into their own hands to survive and fend for themselves and their families despite being denied justice for the explosion. On the other hand, there are those who persist in their unwavering pursuit of justice, undeterred by the obstacles and hindrances they face.

"For us, the families of the victims, the incident still feels like it happened yesterday, and the pain seems to intensify with each passing day. I don't think we will ever recover," Nour El Dine told The New Arab. "The memories become more vivid as time goes on, making the grief even more difficult to bear."

Three years later, the investigation into the explosion remains stalled due to political interference. Legal challenges were even filed by those implicated in the probe to have Judge and probe lead Tarek Bitar removed from his post. This resulted in Lebanon's Court of Cassation's Public Prosecutor, Ghassan Oueidat ordering the release of 17 suspects detained in connection with the blast.

The decision was met with outright outrage from the public, and the families of the victims viewed it as a tremendous setback in their quest for justice. The shock they experienced was palpable, and many felt betrayed by the decision.

In summary, Ghida Frangieh, a Lebanese lawyer and researcher, told The New Arab that "we have a judge who decided to challenge our long-standing impunity regime and has corned the politicians. While obstructing the investigation has cost our politicians a lot on a political level, it seems they are willing to pay the price to avoid accountability."

"People have not completely moved on from the blast, as it remains deeply ingrained in their hearts. I have personally heard it brought up in many unrelated events"

However, for Mehyeddine Ladhkani whose father Mohammad Ladhkani died in the explosion, the continuous obstruction of justice has made him feel as though "there was no hope with the investigation."

Ladhkani acknowledges that street protests may no longer yield tangible outcomes, but believes they are still valuable for demonstrating support. He stresses the importance of Lebanese citizens standing in solidarity with victims' families by participating in the monthly protests on the fourth day of every month, and especially the annual march on August 4.

"People have not completely moved on from the blast, as it remains deeply ingrained in their hearts. I have personally heard it brought up in many unrelated events," he told The New Arab. "However, politicians must see that the majority of the population supports our cause and is determined to uphold justice."

Frangieh echoes this sentiment and asserts that the efforts of rights groups, lawyers, journalists, opposition political parties, and many justice activists are collectively advocating alongside the families of the victims for actions toward justice.

She emphasises that "August 4 has become a kind of Lebanese Justice day" that every Lebanese citizen should participate in and support to the best of their abilities.

Political expert Karim Bitar notes that for a significant portion of the population, a sense of hopelessness has permeated their consciousness regarding the possibility of receiving justice, especially as politicians continue to remain active in the political scene and carry on with their work as if nothing has happened.

"A crime that is not punished is like a crime that is rewarded," Bitar told The New Arab, underscoring the need for the struggle for accountability to persist. He further contends that if the Lebanese people perceive that there has been no accountability for such a tremendous crime, it will inevitably lead to feelings of despair and result in a significant increase in immigration.

To overcome this sense of frustration and forced forgetfulness, art and literature emerged as effective tools. Numerous individuals have found solace in expressing themselves through art, photography, and literature such as the recently published book by Lebanese journalist Dalal Mawad, titled All She Lost, which sheds light on the untold stories of women after the blast.

Canada-based Lebanese artist and researcher Jad Chami told The New Arab that the Lebanese are seldom given the chance to grieve properly and are forced to move on by a system that does not give them closure. This happened in the civil war, where no one took accountability and many people went missing, and this is happening again with the blast.

"In Lebanon, people are often urged to adopt a soldier's mentality and simply move on from the violence inflicted upon them"

"In a post-civil war state, the prevailing sentiment was to encourage people to forget about the war and focus on moving forward to prevent any potential resurgence of violence," Chami said. "This approach was also applied for the blast, where the government urged people not to dwell on the past by continuously dismissing the severity of the event."

The researcher says that through art, individuals can create a space for processing their experiences when they are deprived of such opportunities elsewhere. These mediums provide a means to reconstruct memories and effectively convey them to others, keeping the memory of the blast alive.

"In Lebanon, people are often urged to adopt a soldier's mentality and simply move on from the violence inflicted upon them," Chami said.

"However, the blast was a pivotal event that rewrote many of our memories and embedded itself in our collective consciousness. As a result, it will continually compel us to reshape how we remember our own lives."

Dana Hourany is a multimedia journalist based in Beirut

Follow her on Twitter: @DanaHourany