US News reports..
A Lebanese court on Thursday dismissed a judge who had charged top politicians with negligence over last year’s Beirut port explosion, infuriating families of victims who said it showed that the state would never hold powerful men to account.
Judge Fadi Sawan had led the investigation into one of the largest non-nuclear blasts in history. In December, he charged three ex-ministers and the outgoing prime minister with negligence.
Two hundred people died in the August blast when a huge stockpile of ammonium nitrate, stored unsafely for years, detonated at the capital’s port. Thousands were injured and entire neighbourhoods destroyed.
Families of the victims gathered at Beirut’s justice palace on Thursday night to protest against Sawan’s removal from the probe. Clad in black, they cradled photos of their dead loved ones and held picket signs that read: “Where are the investigation results?”
