Lebanon’s Aoun urges indictment over 2020 blast
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun yesterday urged the judiciary to issue a long-awaited indictment over the 2020 Beirut port blast, on the eve of the catastrophe’s sixth anniversary.
“The issuing of the indictment by the investigating judge has become a necessity that can no longer be delayed,” Aoun said in a statement.
The massive Beirut port explosion on Aug. 4, 2020, killed more than 220 people, injured more that 6,500 and damaged swathes of the capital.
Lebanese authorities have said the explosion was triggered by a fire in a warehouse where tonnes of ammonium nitrate fertiliser had been stored haphazardly for years, despite repeated warnings to senior officials.
