The Beirut blast victims need justice at home

Activists and relatives of the August 4, 2020 Beirut port blast victims raise a national flag smeared with red paint, in the Lebanese capital's port area on the anniversary of the blast last year. AFP

Three-year-old Alexandra Naggear was one of the youngest victims of the enormous blast that ripped through Beirut’s port and nearby neighbourhoods in August 2020. Two-hundred and fourteen others were killed, and 7,000 people were injured. Tens of thousands of lives were effected as homes and businesses were destroyed. The explosion, from a stockpile of irresponsibly stored ammonium nitrate that caught fire, was, in fact, the largest non-nuclear explosion in history.

The past three years in Lebanon have seen a harrowing quest for justice for the survivors and families of victims, among them Alexandra's parents. Others who sought some sort of redress in court include Paul and Tracy Naggear, Elie Malahi, the father of Ralf Malahi, one of 10 firefighters who died in the blast, and Inaam Al Kayal, who lost sight in one eye and partial sight in the other, with her face permanently scarred.

Justice had altogether eluded the families until a favourable ruling in February, though it was not in Lebanon, but rather London. The UK High Court of Justice ruled against Savaro Ltd, a company registered in the UK, that had imported the 2750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate to Beirut. Back in Lebanon, however, as a result of blocked investigations, stalled judicial probes, and a shameful dodging of culpability, no senior official has yet been held accountable.

In what can then perhaps only be seen as a bitter victory for the families, Savaro Ltd has been found liable for the Beirut explosion and the British court has ordered it to pay $1 million as compensation to families of the victims.

Whether Savaro – which is seemingly a mere shell corporation, as The National has reported – actually pays this unexceptional sum in damages is a separate question, however, and one that could herald another long ordeal for survivors and families.

Accountability for the port blast risks becoming just one among several issues that Lebanon’s ailing government clearly needs to address. The country’s older crises have not been resolved and it is already steeped in newer ones – not least of all, a seven-month long presidential vacuum, which may have finally narrowed. A parliamentary session today is expected to select a president, although indicators show that it may not be conclusive.

Before the port explosion, Lebanon had already been a nation rapidly declining. Shortages of food and fuel caused public anger to spill out on the streets in October 2019, as people blamed the political elite for bringing ruin on to the country. Lebanese were forced to line up for hours at bakeries that were running desperately short of bread.

With a currency in free fall, much of the population has been plunged into poverty. Clean water, electricity and medicines are hard to come by and people's life savings are trapped in the banks amid informal capital controls.

The extent of Lebanon's unresolved economic and political dysfunction has only added to the woes of survivors and families of the blast victims. Besides living with their grief and trauma, they have had to encounter the country's systemic problems, and the failings of many senior officials. The blast was regarded as a symptom of decades of corruption and mismanagement by Lebanon’s ruling elite. It should not take further decades before those who've lost so much are finally delivered justice – not in foreign courts, but in Lebanon.