Beirut Port Blast... Diab, 3 Ministers Decline to be Questioned

International media reported today, Monday, that the Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab refused to go to judicial questioning. 

Diab was summoned by the judicial investigation judge on charges of negligence and causing the death and injury of hundreds of people in the Beirut Port explosion case.

Reuters reported, citing an official Lebanese source, that the Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister refused to be questioned by a judge who accused him and three former ministers of negligence in connection with the Beirut port explosion.

The accusations made by Judge Fadi Sawan last week sparked strong criticism from various Lebanese political parties.

Diab, who took office in January, said, "My conscience is feeling comfort about the explosion that occurred on August 4, leaving 200 people killed and thousands injured, and destroyed entire neighborhoods in the capital, Beirut."

Diab resigned after the disaster, but continued to serve as caretaker prime minister.

Sawan, the judicial investigating judge in the Beirut Port explosion case, claimed the caretaker prime minister, and former ministers Ali Hassan Khalil, Ghazi Zuaiter and Youssef Fenianos, are accused of negligence and causing hundreds of deaths and injuries in the Beirut port explosion case.