‘Huge explosion’ targets top lawyer’s office in Beirut

Sakher El-Hachem looks at the damages in his office after the explosion. (Supplied)

• El-Hachem is Nissan legal representative in Lebanon and for detainees arrested in August port explosion case

BEIRUT: An explosion went off in the building that houses the office of lawyer Sakher El-Hachem on Monday afternoon, in the Nakhle Center in Furn El-Chebbak, Beirut.
El-Hachem and his two sons, lawyers Shahid and Nahi, who were with him at the time of the explosion, were not injured, but there was damage in the buidling.
The motives behind the explosion are not yet known.
El-Hachem is the legal representative for many defendants in different cases, but his most prominent client is Nissan in the file of businessman Carlos Ghosn, who is being investigated in Lebanon in corruption cases.
El-Hachem is also the legal representative of some clients who were arrested in the case of the Beirut Port blast on Aug. 4.
Most notably among those are the head of the temporary committee for the management and investment of Beirut Port, Hassan Koraytem, the head of the security and safety department in the port, Mohammed Ziyad Al-Awf, and the maritime agent of the Rossos ship that transported nitrate ammonium to Beirut, Mustafa Baghdadi.
Using the language of bombing has declined in recent years. However, many political and security officials, including the caretaker Minister of Interior Mohammed Fahmy, have expressed fears about the possibility of the deterioration of the security situation through assassinations in light of the crises in Lebanon.
El-Hachem’s wife told Arab News that her husband and two sons were unharmed but that the explosion was huge.
A security investigation was currently underway to find out further details, she added.
Ms. El Hachem said the investigation included surveillance cameras located in the area.
She added that the office windows were shattered, “but my children and husband survived.”
She said that her husband “has previously stated that it is likely that the cause of the Beirut Port blast was negligence, and we do not know if this statement was the reason behind the explosion, which is an obvious message.”
She added: “It is worth noting that my husband has nothing to do with politics, but only works according to the law.”
Lawyer El-Hachem later said that “the security forces and the forensics are carrying out their duties and have started their investigation.”
The Beirut and Tripoli Bar Associations have been on strike for more than 20 days.
The strike is “in defense of the independence and prestige of the judiciary, and in protest of the failure of those involved in the judiciary to correct the relationship with the Bar Association, which violated the Bar’s laws.”