PROFESSIONAL ETHICS MID SEMESTER EXAM

Name : Dheanti Rizky Amelia

NIM : 1909066044

A Study Case
Ammonium Nitrate Explosion in Beirut, Lebanon, 4 August 2020
On 4 August 2020, a large amount of ammonium nitrate stored at the port of the city
of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, exploded, causing at least 200 deaths, 3 reported missing, 6,500
injuries, US$10–15 billion in property damage, and leaving an estimated 300,000
people homeless. Around 2,750 tonnes of the substance (equivalent to around 1.1 kilotons of
TNT) had been stored in a warehouse without proper safety measures for the previous six years,
after having been confiscated by the Lebanese authorities from the abandoned ship MV Rhosus.
The explosion was preceded by a fire in the same warehouse, but as of September 2020, the exact
cause of the detonation is still under investigation.
The explosion was felt in Turkey, Syria, Israel, Palestine and parts of Europe, and was heard
in Cyprus, more than 250 km away. It was detected by the United States Geological Survey as a
seismic event of magnitude 3.3, and is considered one of the most powerful non-nuclear
explosions in history.
The Lebanese government declared a two-week state of emergency in response to the
disaster. In its aftermath, protests erupted across Lebanon against the government for their failure
to prevent the disaster, joining a larger series of protests which have been taking place in the
country since 2019. On 10 August 2020, Prime Minister Hassan Diab and the Lebanese
cabinet resigned due to mounting political pressure exacerbated by the event.
First of all, before we discuss this case in depth, we need to know what Ammonium Nitrate
actually is.
Ammonium nitrate is a crystal-like white solid commonly used as a source of nitrogen for
agricultural fertiliser. But it can also be combined with fuel oils to create an explosive used in the
mining and construction industries. Militants have made bombs with it in the past.
It is highly explosive when it comes into contact with fire and when it explodes, ammonium
nitrate can release toxic gases including nitrogen oxides and ammonia gas.
 Experts say that ammonium nitrate is relatively safe when stored properly. There are strict
rules on how to store ammonium nitrate safely, but among the requirements are that the storage
site needs to be thoroughly fire-proofed, and there can't be any drains, pipes or other channels in
which ammonium nitrate could build up, creating an additional explosion hazard. If you have a
large amount of material lying around for a long time it begins to decay.
Here is the Beirut Explosion timeline (TheGuardian.com)
23 September 2013
The Rhosus, a Russian-owned, Moldovan-flagged merchant vessel departs from Batumi,
Georgia en route to Mozambique carrying 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate. The bill of lading
shows the chemicals were purchased by Fabrica de Explosivos, a Mozambican industrial
explosives company.
The company that manages the Mozambican port of Beira says it was never notified of any
such cargo arriving, according to Portuguese media. According to an interview with the ship’s
former captain, the vessel made stops in Turkey and Pireaus, Greece.

October 2013
The Rhosus makes a stop in Beirut. Some sources suggest it did so due to a technical fault,
but the former captain has claimed it wanted to take on extra cargo to make the voyage more
profitable. There, the crew went on strike due to unpaid wages, he says. Lebanese authorities
refused to let the ship leave, claiming since the explosion they believed it was unseaworthy.
 But the ship’s former captain has said it was stopped due to unpaid port fees. The
International Transport Workers Federation, which sought back wages and repatriation for the
crew, confirmed that the ship was being held in part because it owed the port $100,000 in unpaid
bills. Some of the crew were not allowed to leave for another 11 months, claiming they were
“incarcerated” on the vessel.
27 June 2014
The then-director of Lebanese customs, Shafik Merhi, sends a letter to an “urgent matters
judge” warning of the danger of the ammonium nitrate and asking for a ruling on what should be
done with it, Al Jazeera reports.
Another letter is sent in December of that year and in May 2015 again asking for a resolution,
according to the current Lebanese customs director, Badri Daher.
July 2014
Shipping website FleetMon says the Rhosus has by this point been “abandoned” by its
owner.
October 2015
The 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate aboard the Rhosus has by this point been placed in a
warehouse and the ship is detained at the port, according to lawyers for the crew, who have since
been released from the vessel.
It is not known how much longer the empty vessel remained in Beirut, or where it went
afterwards. The ship’s former captain says it sank “two or three years ago”.
20 May 2016 to 27 October 2017
Lebanese customs officials send three more letters to the judiciary. The latest, sent on 27
October 2017, urges the judge to make a quick decision in light of “the danger … of leaving these
goods in the place they are, and to those working there”.
They claim that the letters are ignored and nothing is done.
December 2019
A state security report is submitted to the judiciary, the presidency and the intelligence and
customs directorates warning of “the real danger arising from these materials”, according to the
Lebanese news outlet Al-Akhbar. It makes several recommendations, including that a hole in
warehouse 12, where the highly explosive material is being kept, be sealed to prevent theft.
Early 2020
An anonymous source close to a port employee has told Reuters that a team inspected the
ammonium nitrate six months before the explosion and warned that if it was not moved, it would
“blow up all of Beirut”.
24 July 2020
Lebanon’s public works minister, Michel Najjar, learns of the presence of the ammonium
nitrate at the port from a report he receives from the country’s supreme defence council, he told
Al-Jazeera.
4 August 2020, 5.40pm
A fire is reported at the Beirut port. Exactly how and where it started are not clear. Lebanese
media has quoted the port’s general manager, Hossan Koraytem, as claiming that a team of welders
was sealing the gap in warehouse 12 and finished their work by noon. Unnamed security
sources have claimed that the crew finished before 5pm.
Reuters on Wednesday quoted sources as claiming that the fire started at nearby warehouse
9 and spread to warehouse 12, with no mention of any welding.
Others have observed the sputtering red explosions that preceded the large blast in some
videos suggest that fireworks might have been the source of the initial fire.
At least 10 firefighters are dispatched to the port to put out the fire, which by 5.54pm is
sending plumes of thick smoke above Beirut.
4 August 2020, 6.08pm
 A massive blast shakes Beirut. One of the first markers of the event on social media is a
tweet from Adam Baron, a resident of a neighbourhood close to the port. His tweet appears at
6.09pm. He says he sent it “while I was still cowering, so within a minute” of the explosion.

Source: TheGuardian.com

The port is reduced to a deep crater surrounded by a smouldering wasteland, while buildings
close to the point of origin of the explosion are severely damaged.
Windows are broken and walls caved in up to 5km away, and the blast is heard
across Lebanon and more than 200km away in Cyprus.
More facts about MV Rhosus
Rhosus was owned by a company based in Panama but was regarded by the captain as under
the de facto ownership of Russian businessman Igor Grechushkin. The shipment had been ordered
by an African explosives manufacturing company for mining in Mozambique. However, reporting
by Der Spiegel has found that it was not Russian national Grechushkin who owned the Rhosus,
but rather the Cypriot businessman Charalambos Manoli, who maintained a relationship with the
bank used by Hezbollah in Lebanon. On October 2013, the ship made port in Beirut. Some sources
said it was forced to port due to mechanical issues and possibly engine problems, while other
sources claimed the owner did not have sufficient funds to pay tolls for the Suez Canal and
attempted to take on a shipment of heavy machinery in Beirut. The heavy machinery was stacked
on top of the doors to the cargo space containing the ammonium nitrate, causing the doors to
buckle, which damaged the ship. After inspection by port state control, the Rhosus was deemed
unseaworthy, and was forbidden to set sail. Eight Ukrainians and one or two Russians were
aboard, and with the help of the Ukrainian consul, five Ukrainians were repatriated, leaving four
crew members to care for the ship.
Grechushkin went bankrupt, and after the charterers lost interest in the cargo, he abandoned
the ship. The Rhosus soon ran out of provisions, and the remaining crew were unable to disembark
due to immigration restrictions. According to Lloyd's List, the Beirut port authority seized the ship
on 4 February 2014, due to US$100,000 in unpaid bills. The ship had accrued port fees and been
fined for refusing cargo. Lawyers argued for the crew's repatriation on compassionate grounds,
because of the danger posed by the cargo still aboard the ship, and an Urgent Matters judge in
Beirut allowed them to return home. They had been forced to live aboard the ship for about a year.
By order of the judge, the cargo was brought ashore in 2014 and placed in Warehouse 12 at
the port, where it remained for the next six years. The MV Rhosus sank in the harbour in February
2018.
Customs officials had sent letters to judges requesting a resolution to the issue of the
confiscated cargo, proposing that the ammonium nitrate be either exported, given to the army, or
sold to the private Lebanese Explosives Company. Letters had been sent on 27 June and 5
December 2014, 6 May 2015, 20 May and 13 October 2016, and 27 October 2017. One of the
letters sent in 2016 noted that judges had not replied to previous requests, and "pleaded".
Reactions
Domestics
Prime Minister Hassan Diab announced that 5 August, the day after the explosions, would
be a national day of mourning. The Lebanese government declared a two-week state of
emergency. President Aoun said the government would provide support to displaced people, and
the Ministry of Health would meet the expense of treatment for the wounded. Marwan Abboud,
the governor of Beirut, said he arrived at the scene to search for firefighters who were on the site
attempting to control the fire that was raging before the second explosion. He broke down in tears
on television, calling the event "a national catastrophe". Hezbollah launched a blood
donation campaign on 5 August.
Multiple members of the Lebanese parliament resigned in protest, including Marwan
Hamadeh, Paula Yacoubian, all three Kataeb Party MPs, Neemat Frem, Michel Moawad, Dima
Jamali, and Henri Helou. The Lebanese ambassador to Jordan Tracy Chamoun also resigned. On
the night of 6 August, the protests against the government that had been ongoing since the previous
October resumed, with dozens of protestors near the parliament building calling for the resignation
of Lebanese government officials. On 8 August, Diab called for early elections, saying it would
be the only way for the country to exit the crisis.
On 9 August, the information minister of Lebanon, Manal Abdel Samad and
then environment minister, Damianos Kattar resigned, the first government resignations since the
explosion. On 10 August, the justice minister, Marie-Claude Najm, also resigned, followed by the
resignation of the entire Lebanese cabinet. Shortly after the resignation of the cabinet, Lebanese
Prime Minister Hassan Diab stepped down from office. President Michel Aoun accepted the
resignation of the government and the Prime Minister, and asked the government to stay on in
a caretaker capacity until a new cabinet may be formed. A new government was eventually formed
by former ambassador Mustapha Adib on 31 August.
International
Representatives of multiple countries and the United Nations (UN), offered condolences. In
addition to those countries which provided aid, others offered to do so. Notably, Israel offered aid
via UN channels, as Israel and Lebanon have no diplomatic ties and are technically at war; the
offer was refused by the Lebanese government. Despite years of Israeli–Lebanese conflict,
including the 2006 Lebanon War, both Israel and senior Hezbollah officials ruled out Israeli
involvement in the explosion, despite claims and allegations spread via social media.
The International Charter on Space and Major Disasters was activated on 5 August, thus
providing for widespread usage of various corporate, national, and international satellite assets on
a humanitarian basis. Several countries expressed solidarity by lighting up landmarks and
monuments in the colours of the Lebanese flag, including the City Hall of Tel Aviv, whereas
the Eiffel Tower in Paris went dark at midnight, and the Arab League flew its flag at its
headquarters in Cairo at half-mast. Some figures from the Israeli right-wing criticized the display
of the flag of Lebanon, an "enemy state", in Tel Aviv. There was also backlash inside Lebanon
against the Israeli gesture.
As a result of the explosion, concerns were raised about the storage of ammonium nitrate in
other ports across the world. Large quantities of the compound were removed from storage in
Egypt, India, Romania, and Senegal.
Who is to blame?
President Aoun promised a transparent investigation into the blast and at least 20 people
have been arrested so far.
Prime Minister Diab described the circumstances that led to the explosion as "unacceptable"
but offered his government's resignation six days later. However, he avoided taking responsibility
for the blast and instead blamed the country's entrenched political elite.
Mr. Koraytem and the director general of Lebanese Customs, Badri Daher, said their
warnings about the danger posed by the stored ammonium nitrate and calls for it to be removed
were repeatedly ignored.
 "We requested that it be re-exported but that did not happen. We leave it to the experts and
those concerned to determine why," Mr. Daher told broadcaster LBCI.
Documents circulated online appeared to show that customs officials sent letters to the
judiciary seeking guidance at least six times from 2014 to 2017.
But investigative journalist Riyad Qobaissi says these letters did not follow the right
procedures and that customs officials simply kept resending the same letters in response to the
judge's request for more information.
The government has ordered officials at the port who oversaw the storage of the ammonium
nitrate to be put under house arrest pending the completion of the investigation.
Lebanon's minister of public works, meanwhile, told Al Jazeera that he found out about the
presence of ammonium nitrate in July and spoke to the port's general manager just two days before
the explosion.
"No minister knows what's in the hangars or containers, and it's not my job to know,"
Michael Najjar, who has been in his post for six months, told the channel.
However, President Aoun has so far rejected the possibility of any international investigation
and has suggested that "external interference through a rocket or bomb or other act" could also
have led to the blast.
Many Lebanese were unimpressed by the government's promises of transparency and
accountability, and there were clashes between protesters and police. The anger and
demonstrations have continued even after the government's resignation, with many people seeing
last week's deadly explosion as the deadly result of years of entrenched corruption and
mismanagement (bbc.com, 11 August 2020).
Multiple Connections
Investigations are now being carried out by Attorney General Ghassan Oueidat, whose
investigation in January highlighted the deterioration of the dangerous stockpile and Hangar 12.
“The investigation has multiple international connections, the port of departure and
destination of the ship, etc. Not to mention the fact that its owner as well as Europeans and
diplomats have died. The points of connection with international law are numerous and the
investigation could reveal new ones. There is a need for an international investigation at the
technical level that leaves it up to the Lebanese judge to make a sovereign decision,” recommends
former government commissioner to the military tribunal Peter Germanos.
 Shortly after the tragedy, 16 people were detained. “They included officials of the Beirut
Port Authority Board of Directors and the Customs Administration, and maintenance workers and
(workers) who had carried out work in Hangar 12.
It was not for their benefit that the Beirut demonstrators erected gallows and guillotines in
Martyrs Square on 5 August, but for the benefit of the entire political class that has been sharing
power for 30 years and of which, through its corruption, incompetence and carelessness, has
caused a devastating economic crisis and, on 4 August, the destruction of the heart of Beirut
(theafricareport.com, 18 August 2020).
Investigation
The government formed an investigation committee led by Prime Minister Hassan Diab,
which will submit its findings to the Council of Ministers of Lebanon by 11 August. The
committee includes the justice, interior and defence ministers, and the head of the top four security
agencies: the Army, General Security, Internal Security Forces, and State Security. The
investigation is to examine whether the explosion was an accident or due to negligence, and if it
was caused by a bomb or another external interference. President Aoun rejected calls for an
international probe despite demands from world leaders.
On 5 August, the Council agreed to place sixteen Beirut port officials who had overseen
storage and security since 2014 under house arrest, overseen by the army, pending the
investigation into the explosions. In addition, the general manager of the port Hassan Koraytem
and the former director general of Lebanon's customs authority Shafiq Merhi were arrested. Later,
on 17 August, the incumbent director-general of Lebanon's customs authority Badri Daher was
also arrested. Also, former ministers of both finance and public works are due to be interrogated
by a judge appointed by the Lebanon's High Judicial Council. In the meantime, Lebanon's state
prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat ordered a travel ban on seven individuals including Hassan
Koraytem. On 12 August, Lebanon's caretaker Justice Minister Marie-Claude Najm commented
on the investigation by saying: "Much of the criticism is warranted due to the slow pace of work
and some politicisation, but this case is a chance for the Lebanese judiciary to prove they can do
their jobs and win back the confidence of the people". On 19 August, a Lebanon judge ordered the
arrests of more suspects over the explosion, making the total number of accused 25.
Lebanese judge Fadi Sawan, who has been responsible for the investigation, summoned
former Minister of Transportation and Public Works Ghazi Aridi, Labor Ministers Ghazi Zaiter,
Youssef Fenianos and Michel Najjar, General Director of the Lebanese State Security Tony
Saliba, Director General of Lebanon's Land and Maritime Transport division, Abdul-Hafeez Al-
Qaisi, and General Director of General Security, Major General Abbas Ibrahim.
The case still under investigation until now.

Questions
1. Customs officials had sent letters to judges requesting a resolution to the issue of the
confiscated cargo, proposing that the ammonium nitrate be either exported, given to the army,
or sold to the private Lebanese Explosives Company. Letters had been sent on 27 June and 5
December 2014, 6 May 2015, 20 May and 13 October 2016, and 27 October 2017. One of the
letters sent in 2016 noted that judges had not replied to previous requests. Investigative
journalist Riyad Qobaissi said these letters did not follow the right procedures and that
customs officials simply kept resending the same letters in response to the judge's request for
more information. What are the ethical implications of this case?
2. What should the government have done to avoid the accident?
3. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said if the incident turned out to be an act of sabotage by
Israel, the Zionist state would pay the same price. Israel itself had denied any involvement in
the explosion. Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations (UN), Danny Danon, accused Iran
of exploiting civilian and maritime companies to smuggle weapons-making equipment to
Hezbollah in Lebanon. He told the Security Council that intelligence had found evidence that
Iranian Quds forces used the port in Beirut to make these deliveries since last year. Western
media and Saudi Arabia also linked the ammonium nitrate explosion in Beirut to Hezbollah
and Iran. This explosion made the political elites of the state of Israel and Lebanon tense. They
accused each other. Lebanon also refused any help from Israel. What are the ethical
implications of this case?
4. The Lebanon government has refused to assist with international investigations and the public
believed that the investigation is not transparent. What are the ethical implications of this
case?
5. What should the government do after the incident?
Answers
1. The prolonged economic crisis in Lebanon had distracted the government's attention and
underestimated the handling of ammonium nitrate, they also ignored the letters. Transporting
ammonium nitrate out of Lebanon was considered costly, which was why handling
ammonium nitrate was ruled out. From a political and economic perspective, this negligence
causes enormous losses. The government should, even though Lebanon was experiencing an
economic crisis, still have to pay attention about how to handle ammonium nitrate properly,
especially prioritizing safety. It is better to spend the cost of transporting ammonium nitrate
and buying a new ship than having to incur huge losses in the future.
2. This answer will be linked to answer number 1. The government should be concerned about
how to handle the ammonium nitrate strictly and they should consider advices from custom
officials that the ammonium nitrate be either exported, given to the army, or sold to the private
Lebanese Explosives Company for public safety.
3. The government was considered to be irresponsible and tried to shift the focus of society to
internal conflicts (corruption and the economic crisis) and to resolve the incident problem by
throwing accusations at Israel. Resignation from an elite government position was also
considered irresponsible. The government should really focus on "healing" the huge damage
that resulted from the accident. They must focus on the health and economy by asking for help
or cooperation with other countries.
4. This refusal made the public think that there was something that the Lebanon government was
covering up. From a political perspective, the Lebanon government might consider this
incident very private and did not want interference from other countries so that internal
political issues were not exposed. Supposedly, investigations can be carried out more
transparently and international investigative assistance is needed so that cases can be solved
more easily and find the solution more quickly. The government must prioritize the interests
of society and eliminate political egos.
5. This answer will be linked to answer number 3. The government must focus more on their
responsibility to slowly improve the country by requesting foreign assistance, especially
health assistance and economic assistance such as food needs and shelter for refugees.