Apart from stirring controversy, the latest development in the investigation into the Beirut Port explosion, i.e. the removal of lead investigator Judge Fadi Sawan from the case, reminded some people of an intriguing prediction Michel Hayek had made about Sawan.
During his 2021 forecast, Michel Hayek pointed out his conviction that the truth about the August 4th blast could not be hidden, and that the truth would be exposed eventually despite the ongoing efforts to suppress it.
“… Whatever they try to do: scenarios, removing Judge Sawan and replacing him with another judge, they will not hide the truth,” he said during his anticipated appearance on New Year’s Eve.
“My feeling and my predictions say that the [Port of Beirut] will drown many stories with them, and the port will detonate and blow away heads and presidents, even if after some time,” Hayek added.
Though not fully, the prediction seems to have rung true at least with respect to the part concerning Judge Sawan, who has indeed been removed from the Beirut blast case.
The judge was asked to step down by a Lebanese court on Thursday, around two months after a request to remove him from the case was issued by two former ministers who were indicted in relation to the blast late in 2020.
Officials are now seeking a new judge to take over the case and lead the probe, which has yet to deliver an outcome more than 6 months after the deadly blast ripped through the Lebanese capital.