The families of the martyrs, injured, and victims of the Beirut port explosion carried out their monthly vigil in front of Martyrs' Gate No. (3), where they announced that they are about to reveal a document that will be published for the first time and is considered a "scandal." Ibrahim Hteit, head of the gathering of families, delivered a speech stating: "Today marks three and a half years since that sinful explosion on the cursed fourth of August, the day that changed, devastated, and mutilated the lives of thousands of Lebanese people, leaving them between dead, injured, displaced, and traumatized by the magnitude of the catastrophe and the horror of the tragedy that struck the homeland and its people. If such an event occurred in any country in the world, it would have toppled presidents, governments, and security leaders entirely. If it had happened in any 'country,' but it is no longer a secret to anyone that we live in a farm, in a jungle ruled by party gangs and human beasts calling themselves a 'state.'"
He added: "Exactly one year ago, following a visit by several French judges to the office and home of Judge Tarek Bitar, the honorable judge emerged after a deep slumber that lasted a year due to a personal commitment to refrain from acting, to announce that he could continue the investigations because his hand is not restrained. Without entering into the legal debate and the timing of this interpretation, it was our right to ask him: Why did he not come out with this interpretation when his hand was restrained multiple times? And why did we wait a whole year since the last time his hand was restrained?"
He continued: "We warn against the manipulation that may see Judge Tarek Bitar returning, in light of the active movements we observe between the public prosecution office and the head of the Supreme Judiciary Council, Suhail Aboud. We, more than forty martyr families, consider Judge Tarek Bitar complicit in the blood of our beloved children, and the matter will have unprecedented repercussions."
He spoke about the law to equal port martyrs with army martyrs, saying: "After several reviews under the pressure of treatments and surgeries for the injured, it has become clear to us that this law, despite not meeting the needs of the injured, is neither valid nor implemented, despite its publication in the official gazette, which is strange and a major scandal. The justification given was that the law did not specify the beneficiaries or the entity responsible for paying the contributions to social security, and the matter remained confidential between the parliament and social security until we obtained the document revealing that, which will be circulated to the press."
Following the monthly vigil, candles were lit, and prayers were held at the time of the explosion for the souls of the victims.
