Hezbollah’s first secretary-general, Subhi al-Tufayli, said in a televised sermon last week that the group’s current leader, Hassan Nasrallah, should be first in line to stand trial over the Aug. 4 explosion at the Beirut port.
In a sermon uploaded to his YouTube channel on Aug. 7, Subhi al-Tufayli said that Lebanon’s president, prime minister and parliament speaker should all be investigated in connection with the disaster, should also be investigated, but that Nasrallah was the prime suspect, as he stands above the rest of the government.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, too, should stand trial, he said.
However, he questioned whether there was any individual or body in Lebanon capable of carrying out such an investigation.
“Is there any honorable judge in Lebanon? They are all being squashed under the shoes of those lowlifes [Hezbollah]. Is there any official in this country who is not required to sign that he is an abject slave son-of-a-slave and dog son-of-a-dog in order to be employed? Even the ministers sign that they are slaves in order to become ministers,” he said.
Lebanon, said al-Tufayli, was no longer a state.
“No, [Lebanon] is not a state. You are conducting an investigation, and tomorrow you will announce that you have reached a conclusion. … Who the hell are you? You are the criminals! You are the criminals and you are conducting an investigation.”
Nasrallah, he said, was the effective ruler of the country.
“The secretary-general of Hezbollah is above the president of Lebanon. The secretary-general of Hezbollah is above the parliament speaker. The secretary-general of Hezbollah is above [Lebanese prime minister] Hassan Diab. So he is the main [culprit], and he should be the first to stand trial, as a Lebanese citizen, with Khamenei in tow,” he said.
