Fadi Sawan

Fadi Sawan
Born1960
CitizenshipLebanese
EducationSaint Joseph University
TitleJudge

Fadi Sawan (Arabic: فادي صوّان, born in 1960[1]) is a Lebanese military investigative judge, who became known after being assigned with the immense task of investigating the 2020 Beirut Port explosion,[2] one of the largest non-nuclear blasts in history,[3][4] the 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate that killed more than 200 people, wounded over 6,000 and destroyed much of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, on August 4, 2020.[5]

In a country where political influence over the judiciary is a problem,[5] which is part of corruption in Lebanon, he was known for his honesty and integrity[6] and for not receiving instructions from politicians,[1] thus many doubted that he could accomplish his task.[5] As a result, in February 2021, he was removed from the probe,[7] which will further delay the investigation. This in turn sparked a new wave of demonstrations, as part of the 2019–2021 Lebanese Revolution,[8][9] with the participation of the families of the victims.[7] The move was widely condemned, as being planned by the Lebanese authorities, who were under of extensive pressure to provide answers for the crime, which have not yet seen the light six months after the explosion.[10]

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Azhari, Timour. "Fadi Sawan: The man leading the Beirut explosion investigation". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 2021-02-19.
  3. ^ "Beirut blast was 'historically' powerful". BBC News. 2020-10-05. Retrieved 2021-02-19.
  4. ^ Francis, Ellen (2020-12-16). "Two ex-ministers snub judge after being charged over Beirut blast". Reuters. Retrieved 2021-02-19.
  5. ^ a b c "Little-known Lebanese judge Fadi Sawan leads probe into Beirut blast". The National. 2020-08-23. Retrieved 2021-02-19.
  6. ^ Nili, Shmuel (2020-10-01), "Organizing Integrity", Integrity, Personal, and Political, Oxford University Press, pp. 17–48, doi:10.1093/oso/9780198859635.003.0002, ISBN 978-0-19-885963-5, retrieved 2021-02-19
  7. ^ a b "Families of Beirut blast victims stage protest". www.dailystar.com.lb. Archived from the original on 2021-02-21. Retrieved 2021-02-19.
  8. ^ Hubbard, Ben (2021-02-18). "Lebanon Removes Judge Investigating Beirut Blast". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-02-19.
  9. ^ "Lebanon: Protests over port judge's removal". gulfnews.com. 19 February 2021. Retrieved 2021-02-19.
  10. ^ "Lebanese activists slam removal of Judge Sawan from blast probe |". AW. Retrieved 2021-02-19.