On Friday, caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab met with a delegation of the families of Beirut Blast victims for the first time. It has been over 10 months since the disaster, after which Diab resigned.
During the meeting, Diab said that the blast was a result of “rampant” and “chronic” corruption controlling the state. He admitting that the corruption “defeated” him.
He assured that the blast is a national issue and not just the concern of the victims’ families and demanded that the truth behind the blast needed to be known.
However, when summoned, Diab himself refused to comply with investigative judge Fadi Sawan, who was eventually removed from the case for going after politicians.
Until now, 10 months through and there are no developments in the Beirut Blast investigation which was supposed to take 5 days. The Beirut Blast is now edging close to its first dark anniversary with no progress whatsoever, at least none that has been made public.
There is no doubt in people’s minds that that which caused the blast – the entrenched corruption – is blocking the investigation and the course of justice.
Taking a step forward to do something right with the families of the victims, and the nation, Diab gave exceptional approval for a draft decree declaring August 4th as a national day of mourning. It now awaits President Michel Aoun‘s approval to take effect.
August 4th will be forever remembered as the day the state’s corruption killed its people. With the decree, it will be officially recognized as such throughout Lebanon’s history.