{"id":13826,"date":"2021-10-26T11:46:46","date_gmt":"2021-10-26T14:46:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/?p=13826"},"modified":"2021-10-26T12:47:50","modified_gmt":"2021-10-26T15:47:50","slug":"beirut-port-blast-investigation-when-will-the-intimidation-stop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/2021\/10\/26\/beirut-port-blast-investigation-when-will-the-intimidation-stop\/","title":{"rendered":"Beirut port blast investigation: When will the intimidation stop?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/BeirutLebanonDrawing.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13827\" width=\"364\" height=\"111\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/BeirutLebanonDrawing.jpg 964w, https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/BeirutLebanonDrawing-300x91.jpg 300w, https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/BeirutLebanonDrawing-768x234.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 364px) 85vw, 364px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Bravo to the <em>Lebanese Higher Judicial Council<\/em> for not intending to disccuss Judge Tarek Bitar removal (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.naharnet.com\/stories\/en\/285057-report-higher-judicial-council-doesn-t-intend-to-discuss-bitar-removal\">https:\/\/www.naharnet.com\/stories\/en\/285057-report-higher-judicial-council-doesn-t-intend-to-discuss-bitar-removal<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bambi is saying so because the intimidation by the most powerful group in Lebanon (mafia ruling it) has reached exponential, and even dangerous, levels lately. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to <em>France24<\/em>, &#8220;<em>the man handling  the biggest case since former prime minister Rafik Hariri&#8217;s 2005  assassination is a little known figure who never talks to the press or  even appears in public.<\/em>.. &#8220;<em>His determination will be tested more than ever after a  [demonstration] for his removal Thursday by supporters of the Shiite Muslim Amal and Hezbollah movements degenerated into deadly violence and  scenes resminiscent of the 1975-1990 civil wa<\/em>r&#8221; (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.france24.com\/en\/live-news\/20211014-tarek-bitar-lebanon-s-judge-with-a-grudge\">https:\/\/www.france24.com\/en\/live-news\/20211014-tarek-bitar-lebanon-s-judge-with-a-grudge<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a reminder, at these heavily armed yet so-called &#8220;peaceful&#8221; demonstrations mentioned above, we have seen images of demonstrators burning posters of this Judge. Same for the US Ambassador in Beirut, Ms. Dorothy Shea (without hearing the classical mantra of &#8220;<em>death to America<\/em>&#8221; though&#8230;).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Anyhow, to come back specifically to Judge Bitar, just check the words used by the two journalists,  Ms. Sarah El Deeb and Mr. Bassam Mroue from the <em>Associated Press<\/em>, to describe <em>Judge Tarek Bitar&#8217;s <\/em>decency<em> <\/em>in an article entitled<em> &#8220;The judge leading Beirut blast probe: Discreet and defiant&#8221; (<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/middle-east-religion-explosions-lebanon-beirut-2c813a38a3ab2789f07fa48799aac82a\">https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/middle-east-religion-explosions-lebanon-beirut-2c813a38a3ab2789f07fa48799aac82a<\/a>):<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;<em>Relatives of victims of the port blast described Bitar as deeply sympathetic to their quest  for justice. One man said the judge told him he approached the case as  if his own daughter had been killed.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>&#8220;Bezdjian said Bitar told the families that he feels a responsibility because of  those killed, wounded and displaced and because \u201chalf of my capital was  destroyed.\u201d<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you were one of the families who lost your loved one in the blast, wouldn&#8217;t  you also want to know that your case is in the caring hands of Judge Bitar?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bravo to the Lebanese Higher Judicial Council for not intending to disccuss Judge Tarek Bitar removal (https:\/\/www.naharnet.com\/stories\/en\/285057-report-higher-judicial-council-doesn-t-intend-to-discuss-bitar-removal). Bambi is saying so because the intimidation by the most powerful group in Lebanon (mafia ruling it) has [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13826"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13826"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13826\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13837,"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13826\/revisions\/13837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}