Lebanese Australians Are Still Fighting For A Real Investigation Into The Beirut Blast
On the first anniversary of the tragic explosion, families of the victims are demanding answers.
August 4 marks the first anniversary of the Beirut Blast, when Lebanon’s capital experienced a devastating explosion that caused an estimated 200 deaths and 6500 injuries. A year on, the families of those lost are still waiting for answers and accountability.
Hundreds of thousands of Lebanese Australians watched the horror unfold overseas, as more than 2700 tonnes of ammonium nitrate — knowingly stored in a warehouse unsafely for years — led to one of the biggest non-nuclear events ever recorded when the chemical ignited.
The blast ripped through half the city and annihilated an entire port, in what should have been preventable if proper precautions were put in place.
Two-year-old Australian Isaac Oehlers was the youngest among the victims. His mother Sarah Copland recalled that the toddler was in a high chair eating dinner and singing nursery rhymes, when the blast ripped through their family home in Beirut.
In a memoriam shared on Tuesday, she remembers her son as a curious, bubbly, and adventurous child. Copland grapples with what justice looks like for Isaac, for Lebanon, and those grieving around the world, angered by the lack of political accountability so far.
“Yes, punishing those responsible is a crucial part of the equation, but the Beirut blast did not occur in a vacuum,” she wrote. “Justice cannot be achieved until the people of Beirut can be assured that nothing like this can happen again, and it cannot be achieved until the victims don’t have to worry about putting a roof over their head and food on the table”.
Lebanese Officials Are Avoiding Accountability
In the aftermath of the blast, Lebanon’s Government was dismantled, never fully replaced, and the recently named Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati has a history of corruption allegations, SBS reported.
Human Rights Watch said that despite implicating evidence against Beirut officials, “systemic problems in Lebanon’s legal and political system are allowing them to avoid accountability”.
The Lebanese Government promised an investigation within five days, but a year on, there are still no answers, responsibility, or even proper measures to repair the vast damage, Copland told ABC’s 7.30.
“The investigation has been marred by political interference, by process violations. The victims, when they have protested, have been tear-gassed, and beaten by riot police. It has just been atrocious”.
She is now pushing for the Australian Government to speak up, and support the United Nations Human Rights Council’s push for an independent investigation.
And Scott Morrison Is Dragging His Feet
So far, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has skirted around solutions, writing a statement with no mention of little Isaac, or how the Government will respond accordingly.
The Department of Foreign Affairs told the Sydney Morning Herald that Australia strongly supports “all Lebanese efforts to deliver justice to the victims”, but didn’t say if we would lobby for a second opinion into the cause of the blast.
Amid the pandemic and a rapidly changing news cycle, it seems as if the world has swept aside the Beirut blast, but Isaac’s family are fighting to preserve the memory of its victims. “What happened to the other children, the brave firefighters sent to their deaths, the nurses on duty at hospitals that were destroyed, the Syrian refugees, and domestic workers who were seeking a better life, and all of the other innocent souls taken that day is not okay,” Copland wrote.
“It is time for the international community to stand up and say what happened was wrong, and the victims deserve justice.”
Photo Credit: STR/AFP via Getty Images