Lebanese PM, ex-ministers charged over Beirut blast

The judge investigating the Beirut port explosion has charged Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab and three former ministers with negligence over the blast that killed 200 people and devastated swathes of the capital.

Diab, whose cabinet resigned over the August blast after taking office in early 2020, said his conscience was clear and accused the judge of breaching the constitution.

Four months after one of the largest non-nuclear explosions on record, which injured thousands of people, victims are still awaiting the result of the investigation. Lebanese leaders had promised it would come within days.

The explosion added to the challenges facing Lebanon, where decades of waste and corruption have triggered the country’s worst ever financial crisis.

Lebanon’s sectarian leaders are still haggling over who will be in the new cabinet.

Judge Fadi Sawan called Diab and former finance minister Ali Hassan Khalil in for questioning next week, along with former public works ministers Ghazi Zeaiter and Youssef Finianos, state news agency NNA said on Thursday.