Minister of Justice in the caretaker government, Henry Khoury, expressed astonishment at being targeted "without the Supreme Judicial Council in the decision to appoint a judge assigned to address the urgent issues related to the Beirut Port explosion." He stated, "This decision is made in conjunction with the Supreme Judicial Council, not individually. If I am sabotaging the investigation, wouldn’t the Supreme Judicial Council also be complicity with me? Directing the campaign against me without the Supreme Judicial Council indicates that I am the targeted one."
When asked about who bears responsibility for the stalled investigation, Khoury told Al-Hurra Channel: "There is responsibility on the judiciary to move the file forward, and judges must bear their responsibility. Those who do not wish to take responsibility should step aside. I have a feeling that some judges do not want to rule on these files; a judge must take responsibility, and those who do not want to take it can be with God."
In response to a question about the assurances for the investigation to resume under Judge Tarek Bitar, he said: "I have significant concerns about the courts, which should be operating at a faster pace, and judicial decisions regarding rejection requests should be made without any delay whatsoever. Whenever a judge faces a rejection request, a replacement should be appointed immediately, and this should be a quick process; it is not permissible for files to remain stuck as they currently are."
While affirming the "legality of appointing an assigned judge," Khoury denied that his decision was "spontaneous," revealing that he "conceived the idea four months ago together with the President of the Supreme Judicial Council and the Prosecutor General, and they agreed that the situation is abnormal in this file, given that the health condition of some detainees is not good." He added, "You can ask the President of the Supreme Judicial Council and the Prosecutor General about this matter."
Regarding accusations of seeking to release detainees, particularly Badri Daher, he stated, "Two detainees were admitted to the hospital urgently, unrelated to Badri Daher; should I remain idle?" Regarding the medical report revealing the health conditions of the detainees, he clarified that he requested the "Internal Security Forces and the Ministry of Defense to provide him with medical reports concerning the personal medical file of each detainee over a month ago, but he has not received a response."
When asked if he could reverse his decision to appoint an assigned judge, he affirmed his conviction in the decision he made "to open a gap in the trajectory of this file; this may lead to Judge Tarek Bitar regaining control of the entire file." He said: "Once he takes over the file, the other judge will be sidelined. If the Supreme Judicial Council had not agreed with me on this step, I would not have made this decision, as half a solution is no solution."
He added: "I am waiting to see the approval issued by the Supreme Judicial Council, and in whatever form it will be, I will then propose the name of the assigned judge." In response to a question regarding the likelihood of rejection requests concerning the assigned judge, he said, "Everything is possible." He indicated that he had not sensed from the "Supreme Judicial Council that it would revoke the decision," stating: "Judge Suhail Aboud said the decision was made, and Bitar is staying, staying, staying; and I also say Bitar is staying, staying, staying."
Responding to the "Judges' Club" position regarding the illegality of appointing an assigned judge, Khoury pointed out that "the judges' club's compass is not correct at all; the judges' club is entering politics, and I told them that, yet they remain insistent on entering politics," noting that he "ridiculed the logic with which they approached this issue when they said that instead of appointing an assigned judge, I should have appointed a Minister of Finance; look at this logic."
He said: "There is absolutely no disagreement with the victims' families, and I have not said that they are dealing with embassies; I have never uttered those words, but they opened fire at me and directed unprecedented remarks."
In response to a question about threats received against him and his family, he confirmed: "Yes, we received threats via phone from a Greek line, but I am sure they are in Lebanon. The nature of the threat involved heinous actions against the family, including threats of murder, and I informed the security agencies and the Prosecutor General."
On the judges' strike, he confirmed efforts to resolve matters so that judges may end their strike. He stated: "I am working to secure income from the state, which is attempting to address the situation as much as possible. We are also trying to obtain advances from the treasury like others. 70% of judges earn between 3.5 and 6.5 million. There are judges today asking generator owners to postpone paying their subscription bills and buying medicine on credit."
He reported that judges expressed "regret that the outage of 3G and 4G is deemed more important than the disruption of the judiciary's work or the adjudication of cases, and everyone rushed to address the telecommunications sector's strike as opposed to what is happening with the judges' strike."
Responding to a question about whether the judiciary is independent, he urged to "distinguish between civil and criminal judiciary," pointing out that "80% of the judiciary is civil, and 80% of judges’ work is in civil courts, thus it is not right to target the judiciary as a whole if there are criticisms concerning two or three judges within the criminal judiciary." He affirmed that "the judiciary is not well," urging the inspection to "play its role entirely well, as should the Supreme Judicial Council. It is not permissible to always blame politics, for the inspection is an independent body."
The Minister of Justice announced that he received "a promise from the European Union to equip courthouses with solar panels, starting with the Ministry of Justice and the Judiciary in Beirut. Two technical delegations will arrive in the coming days to follow up on this matter." He stated, "I am in contact with the World Bank and Arab entities, and I have reached some results, but execution requires some time, and I will announce these matters when the time comes."
Regarding the draft law on the independence of judges, he confirmed that he has "provided his observations on it and proposed solutions related to the Supreme Judicial Council, judicial formations, and others," indicating that he will send it "next week to the House of Representatives."
