Beirut blast judge to start questioning top politicians, news agency reports

The judge in charge of the investigation into last year's Beirut port blast will start calling in top politicians for questioning, including caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab, Lebanon's national news agency reported on Friday.

The judge in charge of the investigation into last year's Beirut port blast will start calling in top politicians for questioning, including caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab, Lebanon's national news agency reported on Friday. No date has been specified yet, the agency said.

Judge Tarek Bitar also wrote to parliament asking to lift immunity from former Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil, former Public Works Minister Ghazi Zeaitar, and former Interior Minister Nohad Machnouk as a first step towards charging them. The caretaker prime minister and former officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

The same officials were charged last year by judge Fadi Sawan, who previously led the probe, but they refused to be questioned as suspects, accusing him of overstepping his powers. Sawan was removed from the investigation by the court of cassation after a request by Khalil and Zeaiter, two of the former ministers he charged.

Hundreds of people died in the August blast when a huge stockpile of ammonium nitrate, which had been stored unsafely for years, detonated at the capital's port. Thousands were injured and entire neighborhoods destroyed.