Beirut: It emerged on Tuesday that Lebanon’s public prosecutor authorized the security forces to imprison a top politician involved in the Beirut port blast. Tarek Bitar, the judge investigating last year’s disastrous port explosion, first issued a warrant for the arrest of Ali Hassan Khalil, a former finance minister, on Oct. 12 after he did not follow a scheduled inquiry. This setting could be the stage for a possible predicament with the lawmaker and his powerful ally Hezbollah, a senior judicial source told.
