Al-Rahi Defends Bitar, Says Probe Slow but Mustn't Exclude Anyone
Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday criticized the "delay" in the port blast investigations.
"Where is the probe into the crime of the Beirut port bombing? The martyrs' families and the Lebanese in general have the right to know the investigation's developments without delving into its secrets," al-Rahi said in his Sunday Mass sermon.
"What is the fate of the summonings of MPs, ministers and the heads of security and military agencies? Why is there a delay and why summonings are accumulating without being followed up or settled?" the patriarch added.
Commenting on the subpoena that has been issued against caretaker PM Hassan Diab, al-Rahi said keenness on respecting the country's top posts should not negate insistence on unveiling the truth, noting that the August 2020 blast had "destroyed the port and half of the city and left over 200 people dead and more than 6,000 wounded."
"We are against politicizing, sectarianizing or impeding the probe!" the patriarch emphasized.
He added: "We are against the exclusion of anyone from interrogation, especially that the President has expressed his willingness to appear before the investigative judge."
And apparently defending Judge Tarek al-Bitar against attacks by Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and the club of ex-PMs, al-Rahi said he is against "turning the investigative judge into a suspect."
Source: Naharnet
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