Lebanon parliament ready to lift immunity for Beirut blast probe

Lebanon’s parliament speaker, Nabih Berri, on Thursday said the legislature was ready to lift the immunity of its members to allow questioning over 2020 port blast in Beirut.

The massive explosion in August 2020 killed over 200 people, injured thousands and destroyed large parts of the city.

However, almost a year after, no top officials have been questioned over the disaster, angering many Lebanese.

Berri said in a statement after a meeting with the Future Movement, parliament’s main Sunni bloc that “the priority of parliament was and will continue to be complete cooperation with the judiciary’’.

Berri did not say when the immunity would be lifted or how.

Veteran Sunni politician, Saad al-Hariri, who heads the party had called for lawmakers’ immunity to be lifted by suspending all constitutional and legal regulations that allow for it.

A probe into the port blast, led by Judge Tarek Bitar, has been hindered over the past month as requests sent parliament and the government to lift immunity, enabling questioning of several top officials were either declined or stalled.