Lebanon Pol Blast USAGM
Metadata
- Lebanon Pol Blast USAGM
- January 27, 2022
- Content Type Package
- Language English
- Transcript/Script English USAGM SHARE ((PLAYBOOK SLUG: LEBANON POL BLAST HEADLINE: Blast Victims Keep Up Pressure on Lebanon’s Leaders TEASER: Charges of impunity after massive 2020 Beirut port explosion test Lebanon’s political establishment. PUBLISHED AT: 1/27/2022: 8:10AM BYLINE: Jacob Russell CONTRIBUTOR: DATELINE: Beirut VIDEOGRAPHER: Jacob Russell PRODUCER: SCRIPT EDITORS: LR, MAS VIDEO SOURCES: VOA ORIGINAL, AFP PLATFORMS: WEB __ TV _X_ RADIO __ TRT: 2:24 VID APPROVED BY: MAS TYPE: TVPKG UPDATE: Jacob Russell’s email is Jacob.russell@mac.com, jmrp0990@gmail.com. WhatsApp on +44 7737815990)) ((INTRO)) [[More than a year and a half after the Beirut port blast, victims are still fighting for accountability on the part of the government. The case has become one of the biggest tests to the impunity of the Lebanese political establishment in thirty years. Jacob Russell reports from Beirut.]] ((NARRATOR)) On the fourth of every month relatives of those who died 18 months ago in the Beirut port explosion gather to remember those they lost and ask for justice. ((NARRATOR)) The giant blast left untold scars on the city, destroying infrastructure and historic buildings, and leaving thousands injured. ((NARRATOR)) But the greatest damage was to the more than two hundred families who were left grieving for loved ones. ((NARRATOR)) Mariana Fadoulian lost her sister, Gaia. ((Mariana Fadoulian, Victim’s Sister - FEMALE IN ENGLISH)) “We used to do everything together. We used to spend all the time together.” ((Mandatory courtesy: Mariana Fadoulian)) “She didn’t have any fight with anyone. She had a lot of friends. She was the person that made everyone happy, even when she was not. You only see her smiling and happy.” ((NARRATOR)) An investigation conducted by Lebanese judge Tarek Bitar, has sought to question top officials and politicians suspected of negligence in knowingly allowing the explosive material to remain, unsecured, in the port for years. None of these officials have attended interviews and security forces have refused to carry out the arrest warrants subsequently issued by the judge. ((RADIO VERSION: Aya Majzoub is with Human Rights Watch.)) ((Aya Majzoub, Human Rights Watch (FEMALE IN ENGLISH)) “The battle over justice for the Beirut blast is really a battle about accountability in Lebanon writ large.” “What Judge Tarek Bitar is trying to do now is really show that the Lebanese judicial system is capable of holding high-level officials to account, and this is exactly why he’s been facing the opposition, the strong opposition, that he has been facing." ((NARRATOR)) This opposition has come in the form of legal challenges and accusations of bias against Judge Bitar brought by those he has called for questioning. Also, Hezbollah and its allies have tried to show the judge’s probe threatens to bring sectarian strife to Lebanon if it continues and claim there is a choice to be made between accountability and peace. ((RADIO VERSION: Mariana Fadoulian says she will not stop pushing for justice, despite attempts by some who - she believes - want to evade responsibility.)) ((Mariana Fadoulian, Victim’s Sister - FEMALE IN ENGLISH)) “Unfortunately, they are trying to do everything to get away from the punishment, to make us feel exhausted, to say that we don’t want it anymore. To say, as all the Lebanese they say, ‘you will not reach anywhere.’” ((NARRATOR)) Rights advocates say it is likely that the political establishment will try to keep the investigation mired in challenges, leaving rights organizations calling for international pressure. ((NARRATOR)) Meanwhile, Mariana Fadoulian and all the other families like hers must try to mourn while leading a fight they never sought to have in the first place. ((Jacob Russell, for VOA News, Beirut))
- Transcript/Script USAGM SHARE ((PLAYBOOK SLUG: LEBANON POL BLAST HEADLINE: Blast Victims Keep Up Pressure on Lebanon’s Leaders TEASER: Charges of impunity after massive 2020 Beirut port explosion test Lebanon’s political establishment. PUBLISHED AT: 1/27/2022: 8:10AM BYLINE: Jacob Russell CONTRIBUTOR: DATELINE: Beirut VIDEOGRAPHER: Jacob Russell PRODUCER: SCRIPT EDITORS: LR, MAS VIDEO SOURCES: VOA ORIGINAL, AFP PLATFORMS: WEB __ TV _X_ RADIO __ TRT: 2:24 VID APPROVED BY: MAS TYPE: TVPKG UPDATE: Jacob Russell’s email is Jacob.russell@mac.com, jmrp0990@gmail.com. WhatsApp on +44 7737815990)) ((INTRO)) [[More than a year and a half after the Beirut port blast, victims are still fighting for accountability on the part of the government. The case has become one of the biggest tests to the impunity of the Lebanese political establishment in thirty years. Jacob Russell reports from Beirut.]] ((NARRATOR)) On the fourth of every month relatives of those who died 18 months ago in the Beirut port explosion gather to remember those they lost and ask for justice. ((NARRATOR)) The giant blast left untold scars on the city, destroying infrastructure and historic buildings, and leaving thousands injured. ((NARRATOR)) But the greatest damage was to the more than two hundred families who were left grieving for loved ones. ((NARRATOR)) Mariana Fadoulian lost her sister, Gaia. ((Mariana Fadoulian, Victim’s Sister - FEMALE IN ENGLISH)) “We used to do everything together. We used to spend all the time together.” ((Mandatory courtesy: Mariana Fadoulian)) “She didn’t have any fight with anyone. She had a lot of friends. She was the person that made everyone happy, even when she was not. You only see her smiling and happy.” ((NARRATOR)) An investigation conducted by Lebanese judge Tarek Bitar, has sought to question top officials and politicians suspected of negligence in knowingly allowing the explosive material to remain, unsecured, in the port for years. None of these officials have attended interviews and security forces have refused to carry out the arrest warrants subsequently issued by the judge. ((RADIO VERSION: Aya Majzoub is with Human Rights Watch.)) ((Aya Majzoub, Human Rights Watch (FEMALE IN ENGLISH)) “The battle over justice for the Beirut blast is really a battle about accountability in Lebanon writ large.” “What Judge Tarek Bitar is trying to do now is really show that the Lebanese judicial system is capable of holding high-level officials to account, and this is exactly why he’s been facing the opposition, the strong opposition, that he has been facing." ((NARRATOR)) This opposition has come in the form of legal challenges and accusations of bias against Judge Bitar brought by those he has called for questioning. Also, Hezbollah and its allies have tried to show the judge’s probe threatens to bring sectarian strife to Lebanon if it continues and claim there is a choice to be made between accountability and peace. ((RADIO VERSION: Mariana Fadoulian says she will not stop pushing for justice, despite attempts by some who - she believes - want to evade responsibility.)) ((Mariana Fadoulian, Victim’s Sister - FEMALE IN ENGLISH)) “Unfortunately, they are trying to do everything to get away from the punishment, to make us feel exhausted, to say that we don’t want it anymore. To say, as all the Lebanese they say, ‘you will not reach anywhere.’” ((NARRATOR)) Rights advocates say it is likely that the political establishment will try to keep the investigation mired in challenges, leaving rights organizations calling for international pressure. ((NARRATOR)) Meanwhile, Mariana Fadoulian and all the other families like hers must try to mourn while leading a fight they never sought to have in the first place. ((Jacob Russell, for VOA News, Beirut))
- NewsML Media Topics Arts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
- Network VOA
- Embargo Date January 27, 2022 08:07 EST
- Byline Jacob Russell
- Brand / Language Service Voice of America