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· collected 2026-08-04 · by Families of Beirut port explosion victims
A group of families whose loved ones were killed or injured in the 2020 Beirut blast demand accountability from Lebanese officials. According to an investigation completed in March, at least 70 officials and security officers are implicated in the disaster that claimed 218 lives, wounded 7,000, and left over 150 people physically disabled. However, the prosecution's review of the file has stalled, with no deadline for completion, leaving the families concerned that impunity may prevail. The blast also claimed lives from 13 other countries, including France, Australia, and the United States, where some governments have called for a "swift, independent, impartial, credible, and transparent investigation".
Written by the local model on 2026-08-21,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
On August 4, 2020, at 6:07 in the evening, we lost the people we loved the most.
asserted
we → lose → people
Children and parents, husbands and wives, firefighters who ran towards the port while everyone else ran away.
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everyone → run → port
The explosion that killed at least 218 people, wounded 7,000, and left more than 150 physically disabled was no accident.
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that → kill → 150
It was the foreseeable result of thousands of tonnes of ammonium nitrate left to rot in the heart of our capital, with the knowledge, in writing, of the highest officials of the state.
asserted
It → leave → state
For six years, we have been told to wait.
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we → tell → years
We waited while the first investigating judge was removed for daring to summon ministers.
asserted
judge → wait → ministers
We waited while his successor, Judge Tarek Bitar, was buried under lawsuits filed by the very men he sought to question, while the investigation stayed suspended for years, while politicians who owed us answers hid behind immunity they had written for themselves.
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they → wait → themselves
We buried our beloved ones twice: once in the ground, and once under the paperwork of a state determined to protect itself.
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We → bury → itself
Then, this March, something happened that we had almost stopped believing was possible.
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we → happen → that
Lebanon’s domestic investigation was completed.
asserted
investigation → complete → ?
The file, naming 70 officials and security officers, arrived on the desk of Public Prosecutor Ahmad Rami Al Hajj.
asserted
file → name → Hajj
We were told this was a breakthrough, and it was.
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it → tell → ?
We welcome it.
asserted
We → welcome → it
But here is what we were not told: nothing obliges the prosecutor to finish his review by any date at all.
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nothing → tell → date
The file must come back with Al Hajj’s opinion before Judge Bitar can issue the indictment that brings the case to trial, and until then, accountability is paused.
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accountability → come → trial
The results of the investigation can sit on Al Hajj’s desk for a month, or a decade.
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results → sit → month
In Lebanon, we know what happens to files that sit on desks: they gather dust until the world forgets, and impunity wins.
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impunity → know → dust
We will do everything in our power to ensure this is not how this case ends.
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case → do → power
We are not lawyers; we are families searching for the truth.
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we → search → truth
But we understand something simple: an investigation that never becomes a trial is accountability denied, it is impunity by exhaustion.
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it → understand → exhaustion
Our grief is not confined to Lebanon.
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grief → confine → Lebanon
Nationals of Syria, Egypt, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Philippines, Pakistan, Palestine, the Netherlands, Canada, Germany, France, Australia, and the United States died or were terribly injured that evening.
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Nationals → die → Syria
Fortunately, some governments did not look away.
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governments → look → ?
French forensic experts landed in the days after the explosion, and France’s own judicial investigation shared its findings with Judge Bitar.
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investigation → land → Bitar
In 2023, Australia stood before the UN Human Rights Council on behalf of 38 states to demand a “swift, independent, impartial, credible, and transparent investigation”.
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Australia → stand → investigation
Diplomats from these countries and more have mourned beside us every August, with a kindness we will not forget.
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we → mourn → kindness
In London, the High Court has already found the company that owned the ammonium nitrate liable for the deaths and the damage.
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that → find → deaths
In the United States, a case against the firm that chartered the ship is advancing through the courts.
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that → charter → courts
Criminal complaints have been filed in Germany and Belgium, and the owner of the ship itself was arrested in Bulgaria last September.
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owner → file → Bulgaria
To the international community, we say: the domestic investigation you called for is complete, but this is not the end of the story.
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this → say → story
We ask that you continue to raise the question of the status of the case in every meeting with Lebanese officials, until there is a trial.
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you → ask → officials
Our loved ones were your citizens, your colleagues, your friends and families.
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ones → love → ?
To the officials named in that file, we say: we are not going anywhere.
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we → name → file
We have counted more than 2,000 days, and we will continue counting every day.
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we → count → days
As Antonia Mulvey, executive director of Legal Action Worldwide, which has represented victims and survivors, told us: “Completing the investigation is a milestone, but nobody has yet been held accountable.
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nobody → represent → investigation
What now stands between the victims and a trial is no longer evidence, it is will.
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it → stand → victims
Victims have a right to proceedings without undue delay, and every month of silence erodes that right.
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month → have → right
Those responsible must answer, whatever their rank.”
Today, we appeal to the public prosecutor to submit his opinion on the Beirut port file without delay, so that the indictment can be issued and the case referred to trial.
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case → answer → trial
Six years have passed without anyone being indicted.
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anyone → pass → ?
No justice will ever bring back our loved ones but we deserve the truth of what really happened on August 4, 2020.
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what → bring → August
…and 1 more, not listed.
