Judge investigating Beirut blast issues arrest warrant for ex-minister

The judge investigating last year's Beirut port blast issued an arrest warrant on Thursday for former public works minister Youssef Finianos after he failed to show up for questioning, the state National News Agency reported. 

Finianos, a Hezbollah ally sanctioned by the US for his links to the group that it considers a terrorist organisation, could not immediately be reached for comment. 

The August 2020 explosion was caused by a large quantity of ammonium nitrate stored unsafely at the Capital’s port for years.  

The arrest warrant is the first for an ex-minister arising from the investigation. 

The blast killed hundreds, injured thousands and destroyed large swathes of the city.  

No top officials have been held accountable and the investigation has been mired in controversy.  

Families of the victims and survivors of the “catastrophic Beirut Blast” appealed to the UN Human Rights Council to establish an “international, independent, and impartial investigation mission” into what happen on August 4 2020, wrote Human Rights Watch on September 15.   

“More than a year after the explosion in Beirut’s port, no one has been held accountable.”  

Judge Tarek Bitar, who is now leading the inquiry into the huge explosion, had issued requests in July to question former prime minister Hassan Diab and other top officials.  

They included former public works minister Finianos, whom Bitar's predecessor Fadi Sawan had charged with negligence. 

All have denied wrongdoing. 

Sawan was removed from the probe in February after a court granted a request for his dismissal by two other former ministers he had charged with negligence for the disaster - Ali Hassan Khalil and Ghazi Zeaiter. 

Hassan Diab, the former Lebanese prime minister, is due for questioning on September 20, although is unclear whether he will return for the session after leaving Beirut on Tuesday for the United States. 

Diab could not immediately be reached for comment. 

Bitar issued a subpoena for Diab on August 26 after he failed to appear for questioning.  

On Thursday, families of the victims demonstrated outside of Beirut's Palace of Justice and blocked a nearby road, angry at the lack of progress in the investigation. 

"We are going to start taking steps that are not peaceful," Ibrahim Hoteit, the spokesperson for the victims told local television channel MTV from the demonstration.