Lebanon’s top court suspends arrest warrants for 2 former cabinet ministers in port blast case

By BASSEM MROUE
Associated Press

BEIRUT (AP) — Judicial officials say a judge at Lebanon’s highest court has suspended the arrest warrants against two former cabinet ministers in the case of the 2020 Beirut port blast. The Court of Cassation’s judge lifted the warrants Tuesday against former ministers Youssef Fenianos and Ali Hassan Khalil. In 2021, Judge Tarek Bitar, who has led the investigation into the explosion, issued a warrant against Fenianos and Khalil. Bitar accused Fenianos, Khalil and two other former senior government officials of intentional killing and negligence that led to the deaths of more than 200 people in the explosion. Despite arrest warrants issued, no one has so far been detained.