A British court has ordered a London-based company [Savaro Ltd.] that delivered the ammonium nitrate that exploded in 2020 at Beirut’s port to pay compensation to some families of the hundreds of victims.

The case in Britain was put forward by the Beirut Bar Association because Savaro Ltd. is based there.

According to the prosecution office at the Beirut Bar Association, the British court ordered payment of 100,000 British pounds ($125,900) for each of three plaintiffs whose family members were killed in the blast because of the emotional damage that resulted from their deaths.

The court also ordered the payment of more than 500,000 British pounds ($629,700) for an injured plaintiff as compensation for emotional and physical damage and to cover medical expenses.

The ruling in London is an unusual judicial success for the victims’ families, members of whom have advocated for an unimpeded national investigation. Some have opted to file lawsuits abroad.

The work of Judge Tarek Bitar, who has been leading the investigation into the blast in Lebanon, has been blocked since December 2021 pending a Court of Cassation ruling after three former Cabinet ministers filed legal challenges against him. The court is the highest in the land.

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It remains unclear who the owner of Savaro Ltd. is. The listed owners are agents from a corporate services firm, investigative journalists from Lebanese and international outlets have reported. The High Court of Justice in June 2022 ordered the company to reveal its true owners, but the firm has not done so.