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A6 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 4 augusT 2022
Groups ask U.N. to investigate Beirut’s massive 2020 blast

By BASSEM MROUE After the blast, port, cus-
Associated Press toms and legal documents
BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanese revealed that the am-
and international organi- monium nitrate had been
zations Wednesday called shipped to Lebanon in 2013
on the U.N. Human Rights on a worn out Russian ship
Council to send a fact-find- and stored improperly at a
ing mission to investigate port warehouse ever since.
the Beirut port blast two Tarek Bitar, the judge lead-
years ago, as a domestic ing the Lebanese investiga-
probe continues to stall. tion, charged four former
The call by groups includ- senior government officials
ing Human Rights Watch with intentional killing and
and Amnesty International negligence that led to the
came as the Lebanese deaths of dozens of peo-
investigation has been ple. He also charged sev-
stalled since December eral top security officials in
following legal challenges the case.
by charged and accused None of them have been
officials against the judge detained and two of those
leading the investigation. charged were re-elected
The Aug. 4, 2020 blast killed to parliament in May.
nearly 220 people, injured An initial investigation by
over 6,000 and caused Human Rights Watch points
widespread damage in A rescue team surveys the site of a massive explosion in the port of Beirut, Lebanon, Aug. 7, 2020. to the potential involve-
Beirut. Associated Press ment of foreign-owned
The call also came amid companies, as well as se-
concerns that a large sec- part collapsed Sunday. and impartial fact-finding mismanagement for the nior political and security
tion of the port’s giant grain A group of U.N. experts mission” for the explosion. tragedy considered one officials in Lebanon.
silos, shredded by the mas- also called Wednesday for They believe the mission of the largest non-nuclear “It is now, more than ever,
sive explosion, might col- an international investiga- would establish the facts explosions in history when clear that the domestic in-
lapse days after a smaller tion saying “this tragedy surrounding the explosion, hundreds of tons of highly vestigation cannot deliver
part fell following a week- marked one of the largest including the root causes, explosive ammonium ni- justice,” the groups said
slong fire of fermented non-nuclear blasts in recent without political interven- trate, a material used in adding that the establish-
grain ignited by the scorch- memory, yet the world has tion. This would support the fertilizers, detonated at the ment of an international
ing summer heat. Leba- done nothing to find out victims’ campaign for an port. Official correspon- fact finding mission man-
nese authorities closed a why it happened.” effective investigation, they dence between political, dated by the U.N. Human
main road outside the port The organizations called said. The groups want to es- security and judicial offi- Rights Council is “all the
and directed traffic into in- on the U.N. rights council tablish state and individual cials reveal that many were more urgent.”
ternal streets as a precau- to put forward a resolution responsibility and support aware about the hazard- The group said that pre-
tionary measure. at the upcoming council justice for the victims. ous substances unloaded vious calls by survivors of
The northern block of the session in September that Many have blamed the in the port a decade ago the explosion and fami-
silos has been slowly tilting would dispatch “without Lebanese government’s without taking meaningful lies of the victims remain
for days since the other delay, an independent longtime corruption and action to remove it. unanswered.q

Iran, U.S., EU to send envoys to Vienna

for nuclear talks

to the landmark accord paring to travel to Vienna tions in areas beyond” the
would attend the surprise for talks. He cautioned that nuclear agreement.
summit, nor if there had American “expectations Russia’s chief representa-
been any progress after a are in check” ahead of the tive at the talks, Mikhail
monthslong stalemate and negotiations. “The United Ulyanov, also wrote on
recent fruitless round of in- States welcomes EU efforts Twitter that negotiators
direct talks between Iran and is prepared for a good from Russia, a key signa-
and the U.S. in Doha. faith attempt to reach a tory of the nuclear deal,
The European Union official deal. It will shortly be clear “stand ready for construc-
who chairs the talks, En- if Iran is prepared for the tive talks in order to finalize
In this photo released by the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Enrique
Mora, a leading European Union diplomat, left, shakes hands rique Mora, said the nego- same,” Malley added. the agreement.”The pros-
with Iran’s top nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani in Tehran, tiations would focus on the The German Foreign Min- pects for the deal’s restora-
Iran, March 27, 2022. most recent draft to restore istry said Berlin would be tion have darkened in the
Associated Press the agreement, while Iran’s represented at an “expert past few months with major
chief nuclear negotiator, level” at the talks in Vi- sticking points remaining,
By NASSER KARIMI tives to Vienna amid what Ali Bagheri Kani, said he enna, adding it supported including Tehran’s demand
Associated Press appears to be a last-ditch was heading to the Aus- efforts to fully revive the that Washington provide
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran, effort at reviving talks over trian capital “to advance deal “even if hopes are guarantees that it won’t
the United States and Tehran’s tattered 2015 nu- the negotiations.” very small.” It again pushed again quit the pact and
the European Union said clear deal with world pow- U.S. Special Representative Iran to conclude the deal that it lift terrorism sanctions
Wednesday they would ers. It wasn’t immediately for Iran Rob Malley wrote and said that would mean on Iran’s paramilitary Revo-
send senior representa- clear if all other parties on Twitter that he was pre- “giving up maximalist posi- lutionary Guard.q