Political Segment of Sayyed Nasrallah’s Speech on the 7th Night of Ashura Commemorations

Translated by Al-Ahed News

Excerpts from Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s speech on the seventh night of Ashura | 4-8-2022

At the beginning of my speech, I must mention the anniversary of the tragedy that befell the Lebanese people and other nationalities, including those from Syria and Palestine, and others who were martyred and wounded in the explosion at the Beirut Port on August 4.

Once again, we extend our deepest condolences to all the families of the martyrs, and all those wounded. We pray for those who are still suffering from their wounds to heal, and we remember that incident, that tragedy, that calamity that befell everyone.

In any case, at the end of the speech, I will return to this topic and talk about this important incident.

(...) Undoubtedly, the port incident was a very painful event and very harsh for all Lebanese. If there was more time, I would have talked about clarifications and assertions. I wanted to cover the assertion part.

People are facing pain -  the pain of the families of the martyrs, fathers, mothers, wives, sons, daughters, brothers, and sisters, the wounded who are still suffering until now from that incident, the people whose homes were destroyed, and those who have not yet received adequate help.

Of course, when the anniversary comes, the pain comes along. Political exploitation comes along as well. The most important problem this calamity faces is the ugly and bad political exploitation dating back to the first day of the incident.

In fact, for two years, the families of the martyrs and the wounded have been demanding truth and justice. The families of the martyrs, the wounded, and the afflicted should blame the politicians as well as the political parties and media that exploited this calamity, and politicized it from the beginning – from the early hours and moments, they took it far from the truth.

You all remember that day. We still don't know if what happened was an explosion, an earthquake, or a bombing. Some well-known Lebanese media outlets and some Lebanese politicians came out – before they knew anything, and no one at that time knew anything – and blamed it on Hezbollah, its weapons, ammunition, and missiles in hangar so and so. They accused Hezbollah for 24 hours, 48 hours, and for days on end. Is this correct or not?

Do you want to give the people whose children were killed, wounded, and afflicted, and whose homes, livelihoods, and shops were destroyed, truth and justice? Or would you in a filthy, ugly, and inhumane manner exploit the pain and wounds of these families in order to serve your political objectives and the people who fund you. Would you benefit from the incident in the context of your battle with the resistance and Hezbollah? These people are responsible for abandoning truth and justice in the matter of the Beirut Port explosion because they misguided the people and took them to another place.

We explained and clarified. Do you remember that day when we said that there are no missiles and ammunition? Hezbollah has nothing in the port of Beirut. So, people stopped talking about rockets or ammunition because through the investigations by the Lebanese Army, and the Internal Security Forces, the Americans, and the French agreed that there were no missiles, no weapons, no ammunition. Hence, all the talk about rockets, weapons, and ammunition stopped. However, we are still to this day talking about who brought the ammonium nitrate. Hezbollah!

Everyone is talking about this incident. Who brought this material in? Hezbollah brought it in! That day, we explained and clarified.

I said, “We have original explosives – conventional ones. Do you know what that means? It means that we don't need ammonium nitrate to make homemade and hand-made explosives. We have originals. No,  Hezbollah brought this material. Whom did they bring it for? It wants to take them to Syria. If one wanted to take them to Damascus, why bring them to Beirut when you could just transport them to Baniyas or to Latakia? There is an insistence on ugliness and the use of oppressed blood in political targeting. In my opinion, these bear the primary responsibility for altering truth and justice.

Secondly: We all said that we support the investigation. But when there were indications that the investigation was being politicized, the people responsible for obstructing the investigation were not only those submitting “hands-off lawsuits” but also those who did not accept to step down.

The investigation has stopped because of one judge. Aren’t there judges in Lebanon who are trustworthy and have experience and are not under suspicion? Basically, this judge entered the circle of suspicion. All these months, why is he obstructing the investigation? Because the judge did not accept to step down. So, the matter was halted. This played an important role.

Simply put, with a case of this magnitude, there are people who believe that they are being targeted amid the politicization of the process. We talked about evidence in this matter because there are judges who are responsible and were not even investigated! There are judges, officers, and officials responsible for this incident. They were not even questioned. They have not been questioned until today. Even when the judge was caught red handed, he was not investigated, which caused suspicion.

Quite simply, if we now want to create a new way out, to get to the truth for the sake of the oppressed, let us not spend another day in the country accusing and insulting each other. Instead, let us resort to sound and impartial judicial work. Everyone knows and as the officials and political forces who issued objective statements say, the solution is for this judge to step down and be  replaced with a trustworthy judge.

There are many judges who have experience, are honest and transparent, able to shoulder responsibility, and can take over the job. Then, everything becomes clear, and whoever is responsible must be held accountable.

Today, it is not only about revealing the truth and honoring the blood of the martyrs and the wounded. It’s also for the oppressed who have been in prison for two years. There are people who have been wronged and imprisoned. However, no one dares to release them. They are oppressed and they know that. This is the result of this judicial process.

We call for the judicial process to be opened again, for truth, the complete truth, and for those who are responsible to be punished and held accountable – whoever they may be. This is if we want to be fair.

The beginning, middle, and conclusion of this process must not be politicized if you want the truth.