A Bundle Of English News, Reports, Commentaries & Analysis Addressing The Heinous Assassination Of Lukman Slim/February 05/2020/Compiled by: Elias Bejjani
رزمة من التقارير والأخبار والتعليقات والتحاليل باللغة الإنكليزية تتناول جريمة اغتيال لقمان سليم
Titles Of The Bundle
*Prominent Activist Lokman Slim Found Shot Dead
*Lebanese activist, Hezbollah critic Lokman Slim found shot to death in his car
*Prominent Hezbollah critic, Lokman Slim killed in south Lebanon
*Al-Arabiya coverage of Lebanese activist, Lokman Slim killing draws online smear campaign by Hezbollah supporters
*Murdered activist Lokman Slim was facilitating a Hezbollah defection before death/Mona Alami/Al Arabiya/Thursday 04 February 2021
*Lebanese activist, Hezbollah critic Lokman Slim found shot to death in his car
*Family of slain Lebanese activist Lokman Slim hint Hezbollah behind the killing
*‘Sad day in Lebanon,’ says US secretary of state after Hezbollah critic gunned down
*U.S. Ambassador Says Slim’s Murder an ‘Attack on Lebanon Itself’
*U.N. Says Killing of Lokman Slim is a Loss for Lebanon
*France calls murder of Lebanese anti-Hezbollah activist Lokman Slim ‘heinous crime’
*Aoun Urges Speedy Probe in Slim’s Murder, Diab Vows No Leniency
*Hariri Says Slim was Clear in Identifying Source of ‘Threat’ to Lebanon
*Political Figures Erupt over Slim’s Assassination
*Who is Lokman Slim: A profile on Lebanese activist, Hezbollah critic shot to death
*Lokman Slim: Daring Lebanese Activist, Admired Intellectual
*Hizbullah Condemns Slim’s Murder, Warns against ‘Political Exploitation’
*Amal Condemns Slim’s Murder, FPM Urges No ‘Exploitation’
*“Killing of Lebanese anti-Hezbollah activist Luqman Slim sparks fury/Najia Houssari/Arab News/February 04/2021
*Text Of The Letter That Mohammad Chatah Sent To The Iranian President Hassan Rouhani Few Days Before He Was Assasinated
Details Of The Bundle
Prominent Activist Lokman Slim Found Shot Dead
Agence France Presse/Associated Press/Thursday 04 February 2021
A prominent Lebanese publisher and vocal critic of Hizbullah was found dead in his car Thursday morning from multiple gunshots at close range, security and forensic officials said.
Lokman Slim, a 58-year-old longtime Shiite political activist and researcher, had been missing for hours since late Wednesday and his family posted social media messages looking for him. He was visiting friends in a southern village and was expected back in Beirut the same day.
Security forces found Slim’s car on a rural road near the southern village of Addoussieh.
Afif Khafajeh, a coroner who inspected Slim’s body, said there were six bullets in Slim’s body — three in the head, one in the chest and one in the back. Blood was splattered over the passenger car seat.
A security official at the scene said Slim’s ID, phone and gun were missing. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
A resident of Addoussieh said the car was found on the rural road before midnight. He declined to provide his name.
Slim’s killing caused a shock in Lebanon and many feared it signaled a return to political violence. Lebanon has a history of political crimes and violence, but it has been years since such killings have occurred. With rising tension amid a deepening political dispute and economic crises, officials have warned of violence and assassinations.
Slim’s wife Monika Borgmann and sister Rasha al-Ameer had earlier posted on social media that Slim had not answered his phone for hours and hadn’t been seen since Wednesday evening.
Al-Ameer said she learned of Slim’s death from news reports as she was filing a missing person’s form. She hinted that Hizbullah was behind the killing, without naming the group. Asked whether she accuses anyone specific, al-Ameer said the killers “have implicated themselves.”
She said the party that controls the area where her brother was killed “is known,” adding, “killing for them is a habit.” Hizbullah allies dominate the area south of Sidon city where his car was found.”
The circumstances of Slim’s death were not clear and a security official in Beirut said an investigation is underway to determine what happened.
Caretaker Interior Minister Mohammad Fahmi, speaking to local TV station MTV, called it a “horrific crime.”
For many, Slim’s killing stirred fears of a return of a culture of impunity where few, if any, are held accountable for violence or corruption. His killing comes six months after a massive explosion in the Beirut port that killed 211 people and disfigured the capital. So far, an investigation into what caused the explosion and who is responsible has led nowhere.
European Union Ambassador to Lebanon Ralph Tarraf tweeted that he was shocked and saddened by the killing of Slim, calling it an assassination.
“We deplore the prevailing culture of impunity in #Lebanon in which such heinous acts take place and demand a proper investigation by the competent authorities,” Tarraf said.
French ambassador Anne Grillo also called his killing an assassination, sending her condolences to the family in a tweet.
Slim was born in the southern suburbs of Beirut. The vocal critic of Hizbullah continued to live with his family in the suburbs, which is a stronghold of the group.There, he founded and ran Umam, a research and film production house where he had a major library documenting Lebanon’s and Shiite history. His family owns a publishing house and Slim hosted public debates and political forums and art shows, including exhibitions documenting the war’s missing.
In 2009, he defied authorities and Hizbullah by holding a gathering at his center to show an Israeli cartoon movie about Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon and the rise of Bashir Gemayel who became President at the time and was as assassinated in September that year.
Slim was also politically active, setting up in 2005 Haya Bina, or “Let’s go,” a group that encouraged participation in parliamentary elections and called for changes to Lebanon’s sectarian-based system.
“It is a big tragedy,” said Makram Rabah, a close friend and history lecturer. “Anyone who knows Lokman they know who his enemies are.”
Rabah said he and Slim were strong opponents of Hizbullah’s grip on power and called for sovereignty and diversity in Lebanon. They were both attacked by a group of young men during a public debate at the height of anti-government protests in 2019. Slim at the time accused Hizbullah supporters of being behind the attack.
Slim also accused Hizbullah supporters of threatening him at his home, holding rallies and hanging posters on its walls accusing him of treason.
Shortly after the news was public, Jawad, the son of Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, said in a tweet that “the loss of some is in fact a profit and unaccounted kindness,” adding the hashtag #without_regret.
He later erased it saying it was “misinterpreted” and had no relation to Slim’s death.
Lebanese activist, Hezbollah critic Lokman Slim found shot to death in his car
Joanne Serrieh, Al Arabiya English/Thursday 04 February 2021
Lebanon security forces have found the body of prominent Hezbollah critic Lokman Slim shot to death after he went missing Thursday night in the country’s southern region, which is heavily controlled by the Iran-backed extremist group. “We found him, he was shot in the head apparently and his rental car was found in Nabatiyeh,” Slim’s friend and American University in Beirut (AUB) Professor Makram Rabah told to Al Arabiya English. The motive behind the assassination was not immediately clear. His body was transported to a hospital in Sidon where a forensic coroner said Slim was received four bullets to the head and one to his back, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA). Slim, an activist and publisher who ran a research center, was reported missing by his family late Wednesday night into Thursday morning after he visited a friend’s house in a village in Lebanon’s southern region.
“My brother Lokman Slim left Niha al-Janoub six hours ago heading back to Beirut and he has not yet returned. He is not answering his phone. There is no trace of him in hospitals,” his sister Rasha al-Ameer wrote on Twitter at 3:44 a.m. Beirut time. Rabah confirmed to Al Arabiya English that Slim’s family was able to track his phone to a location where he was last seen in the south, no sign of him or his vehicle were found, however.
“Lokman is an outspoken voice against Hezbollah and he went missing deep in the region and their areas of control and this is the technique they’ve used before,” Rabah said. Earlier in the day, the AUB professor tweeted saying: “We hold the parties who control the area and the Lebanese state responsible for his safety and his swift return.” After Slim was found killed, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah’s son Jawad shared an Arabic tweet that translates to “Loss of some is in reality an unexpected gain and kindness for others” with the hashtag “no sorrow.” He then deleted the tweet that he said it was personal and was not intended in the way that some understood it as subtweet on the death of the activist. “The tweet has nothing to do with what is happening. A little awareness,” he said.
Lokman Slim and Hezbollah
A journalist, political analyst and activist known as one of the leading Shia voices criticizing Hezbollah, Slim was regularly attacked in media loyal to the terrorist group. Security sources did not immediately elaborate on the circumstances of his death but Slim’s own sister said before his death was even confirmed that his disappearance was inevitably linked to his opinions. “He had a political stance, why else would he have been kidnapped,” Rasha al-Ameer told AFP. Slim was often criticized by Hezbollah supporters for being instrumentalized by the US. The secular intellectual and pro-democracy activist had also made several documentary films with his wife Monika Borgmann, who had sounded the alarm on social media when her husband went missing.
*With AFP & Reuters
Prominent Hezbollah critic, Lokman Slim killed in south Lebanon
The Arab Weekly/February 04/2021
BEIRUT – A prominent Lebanese activist and intellectual known for his opposition to the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement was found dead in his car in the country’s south on Thursday, a security official said.
Lokman Slim, 58, had long been a leading secular voice in the Shia community and was routinely targeted for criticism, and often threatened, over his anti-Hezbollah stance. “He was found dead in his car, killed by a bullet to the head,” a senior security official said on condition of anonymity. Lebanese media also reported Slim’s death. Security sources did not immediately elaborate on the circumstances of his death but Slim’s own sister said before his death was even confirmed that his disappearance was inevitably linked to his opinions.
“He had a political stance, why else would he have been kidnapped,” Rasha al-Ameer said. Slim was often criticised by Hezbollah supporters for being instrumentalised by the United States. Lebanese social media erupted over the murder, on which many were already commenting as the latest in the long list of Lebanon’s political assassinations. Slim had founded an organisation called Umam Documentation and Research aimed at archiving Lebanon’s violent past with the aim of raising awareness and preventing further conflict.
Interior Minister Mohammed Fahmi, quoted in local media, called Slim’s killing a “horrible crime.” The secular intellectual and pro-democracy activist had made several documentary films with his wife Monika Borgmann and also worked in publishing.
Serious threats before murder
When a cross-sectarian pro-democracy protest movement was still gathering daily and occupying parts of central Beirut in late 2019, thugs loyal to Hezbollah and the other main Shia party Amal were involved in several violent incidents.
They beat up protesters and in one instance in December that year plastered messages on the walls of Slim’s Beirut home calling him a traitor and warning that his “time will come.” Slim said at the time that he would lay the blame squarely on the leaders of Hezbollah and Amal, Hassan Nasrallah and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri respectively, should anything happen to him or his family.
The United Nations envoy to Lebanon Jan Kubis wrote that he was saddened by Slim’s murder, describing him as “an honest independent voice of courage.”
Slim, one of the most prominent Lebanese intellectuals to be gunned down since historian Samir Kassir in 2005, was born in Beirut in 1962 and studied in France towards the end of the 1975-1990 civil war. The activist’s murder comes as Lebanon marked six months since a devastating blast at Beirut port killed more than 200 people and ravaged entire neighbourhoods of the capital.
What was one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history was caused by a years-old stock of highly explosive ammonium nitrate in a port warehouse.
Yet the reasons for its presence have yet to be elucidated and Lebanon’s own investigation into the tragedy appears to be completely stalled.
Hezbollah’s enemies have pointed a finger at the Shia militia’s influence over Lebanese customs and port security following the explosion.
According to a judicial official, the prosecutor tasked with investigating the blast started looking into possible connections to Syrian businessmen this week.
Kubis said that, unlike the port blast, Slim’s murder should be investigated in a “speedy and transparent way.”
Al-Arabiya coverage of Lebanese activist, Lokman Slim killing draws online smear campaign by Hezbollah supporters
Arab News/February 04/2021
In the early hours of Thursday morning, Luqman Slim’s body was found in his car in one of the orchards of the Al-Adousiya area
Many of the Hezbollah loyalists claimed that Slim’s assassination was part of a “theatrics”
LONDON: Al-Arabiya News Channel was subjected to an online campaign by Hezbollah supporters and critics that questioned how the channel was able to report on the assassination of prominent and vocal Hezbollah critic Luqman Slim on Thursday. Many of the Hezbollah loyalists claimed that Slim’s assassination was part of a “theatrics.” The online attacks sought to undermine the public narrative against the terrorist group and draw accusations away from the Lebanon-based Iranian proxy.
“The most dangerous thing is how some tweeters, bloggers knew about Luqman Slim’s death before even finding him. How did Al-Arabiya tweet about it and then some Lebanese channels? How did some people on Twitter know who committed the crime? The one who killed Luqman Slim knows how to move and when he moves,” journalist Hosein Mortada, known for his pro-Hezbollah and pro-Iran writings, tweeted.
“We are from Al-Zahrane residents but we did not hear about what happened, not even the Lebanese media until Al-Arabiya published it. Can you tell us how you learnt about these details that quickly,” one tweeter asked.
“We heard at Ziad Rahbane’s theatre play once where it says ‘in the media they need to put news before it even happens.’ This is what happened today at Al-Arabia in the event of Luqman Slim’s death who was found in a remote area in the south. They described the areas that are under Hizib’s control. They could know the news before it even occurs,” another wrote.
Anticipating his own killing last year, Slim announced that he received accusations and threats at his house. Slim said Hassan Nasrallah, Nabih Berri, and the Lebanese Army had full responsibility for his safety.
In the early hours of Thursday morning, Slim’s body was found in his car in one of the orchards of the Al-Adousiya area in Lebanon with four shots to the head and one in the back.
His killing is the culmination of a series of threats Slim has received for many years — which intensified in recent months — for his strong anti-Hezbollah stance.
He was accused by Hezbollah and its members of being an “Israeli agent” or “a Shiite of the American Embassy.”
Murdered activist Lokman Slim was facilitating a Hezbollah defection before death
Mona Alami/Al Arabiya/Thursday 04 February 2021
The death of Shia anti-Hezbollah activist Lokman Slim was not a random killing. It was a cold-blooded execution. The activist who denounced Hezbollah human rights violations for years and investigated closely the militant’s group’s increasing repression of its Shia popular base as well as the wider Lebanese street was found killed by four bullets to the head in the Zaharani, region, a Hezbollah bastion. His phone was found a few kilometers away, in Niha, in the South, another region under the militant group’s control.
What killed Slim was not his open criticism of Hezbollah, which had in the last few years turned Lebanon – with the tacit agreement of the corrupt Lebanese leadership – into an Iranian satellite, at the cost of its economy, its stability and its foreign relations.
Slim’s Umam Center was well known for publishing a wide array of research about the party. Nor was he killed over his overt relations with the American embassy, high American or European diplomats. What killed Slim was that he went too far into uncovering Hezbollah’s internal fabric and its intricate web-like network. In the last few months, Slim delved into Hezbollah money laundering activities, looking into possible contacts between traders facilitating those activities for the movement, and going as far as attempting to link those with figures working with the Lebanese central bank, according to a conversation I had with him. On Sunday 31 January, Slim asked me to pass by his office on Monday, as he wanted to discuss a sensitive topic with me that could be done only face to face. When I met him on Monday February 1, he confided that he was a contact with a business associate of Hezbollah, who was heavily involved in money laundering activities for the party and was sanctioned by the US Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC). This person, whose name he didn’t share, was ready to defect in exchange for his extraction from Lebanon and protection from Hezbollah.
Slim was asking me what was the best way to do it, given that any contact with a local foreign embassy would include the involvement of too many parties, which could lead to an intelligence leak and threaten the life of the alleged defector. The best way to handle it, he thought, was to contact directly the US State department, or the Treasury. Three days later, ignorant that he was being followed, Slim went to the south for a dinner with friends. He disappeared a few hours later in the evening, leaving his family devastated, only to be found dead a day later. His fate had been sealed. It remains to be seen if another body – that of the mysterious defector – will surface in the next few weeks. It is certain that no serious investigation will be led into the execution of Lokman Slim, and that the Lebanese judiciary will not bring the perpetrators to justice. Lebanese security services and its judiciary have no interest in the truth. It is a costly commodity in a country where a human life does not amount to much.
Lebanese activist, Hezbollah critic Lokman Slim found shot to death in his car
Joanne Serrieh, Al Arabiya English/Thursday 04 February 2021
Lebanon security forces have found the body of prominent Hezbollah critic Lokman Slim shot to death after he went missing Thursday night in the country’s southern region, which is heavily controlled by the Iran-backed extremist group.
“We found him, he was shot in the head apparently and his rental car was found in Nabatiyeh,” Slim’s friend and American University in Beirut (AUB) Professor Makram Rabah told to Al Arabiya English.
The motive behind the assassination was not immediately clear. His body was transported to a hospital in Sidon where a forensic coroner said Slim was received four bullets to the head and one to his back, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA).
Slim, an activist and publisher who ran a research center, was reported missing by his family late Wednesday night into Thursday morning after he visited a friend’s house in a village in Lebanon’s southern region.
“My brother Lokman Slim left Niha al-Janoub six hours ago heading back to Beirut and he has not yet returned. He is not answering his phone. There is no trace of him in hospitals,” his sister Rasha al-Ameer wrote on Twitter at 3:44 a.m. Beirut time. Rabah confirmed to Al Arabiya English that Slim’s family was able to track his phone to a location where he was last seen in the south, no sign of him or his vehicle were found, however. “Lokman is an outspoken voice against Hezbollah and he went missing deep in the region and their areas of control and this is the technique they’ve used before,” Rabah said.
Earlier in the day, the AUB professor tweeted saying: “We hold the parties who control the area and the Lebanese state responsible for his safety and his swift return.” After Slim was found killed, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah’s son Jawad shared an Arabic tweet that translates to “Loss of some is in reality an unexpected gain and kindness for others” with the hashtag “no sorrow.” He then deleted the tweet that he said it was personal and was not intended in the way that some understood it as subtweet on the death of the activist.
“The tweet has nothing to do with what is happening. A little awareness,” he said.
Lokman Slim and Hezbollah
A journalist, political analyst and activist known as one of the leading Shia voices criticizing Hezbollah, Slim was regularly attacked in media loyal to the terrorist group. Security sources did not immediately elaborate on the circumstances of his death but Slim’s own sister said before his death was even confirmed that his disappearance was inevitably linked to his opinions. “He had a political stance, why else would he have been kidnapped,” Rasha al-Ameer told AFP. Slim was often criticized by Hezbollah supporters for being instrumentalized by the US. The secular intellectual and pro-democracy activist had also made several documentary films with his wife Monika Borgmann, who had sounded the alarm on social media when her husband went missing.
With AFP & Reuters
Family of slain Lebanese activist Lokman Slim hint Hezbollah behind the killing
The Associated Press/Friday 05 February 2021
The family of prominent Lebanese publisher and vocal critic of the Shia militant Hezbollah group Lokman Slim who was found shot dead in his car on Thursday morning, hinted that the group was behind the killing. The body of 58-year-old Slim, a longtime Shia political activist and researcher, was slumped over on the passenger seat with multiple wounds from gunshots fired at close range, security and forensic officials said. He had been missing for hours since late Wednesday and his family posted social media messages looking for him. To his friends, Slim was a fearless critic of Lebanon’s powerful politicians, Hezbollah and its allies Iran and Syria, and a major resource on the history of Lebanon’s civil war. His killing raised fears that Lebanon’s political tensions could turn into a new wave of assassinations. Critics, however, accused Slim of sowing sedition, undermining national unity and being a Zionist because of his criticisms of Hezbollah. “He was carrying the weight of this country on his shoulder,” his sister Rasha al-Ameer told reporters at their home after the news of the killing broke. She said she has no faith in local investigations and that the family would carry out its own private forensic probe.
“Up until today in the history of Lebanon, all investigations have led to a dead end,” she told reporters. His wife, Monika Borgmann, standing next to al-Ameer, called for an international probe. “This killer has to be punished,” Borgmann said.
Al-Ameer hinted that Hezbollah was behind the killing, without naming the group, adding that it is known who controls the area where her brother was found dead. “Killing for them is a habit,” she said. Hezbollah and its allies dominate the area in southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah condemned Slim’s killing, calling for a swift investigation. It also urged security agencies to combat crimes it said have spread around Lebanon and which have been “exploited politically and by the media at the expense of security and domestic stability” — a jab at their critics.
Slim was born in Beirut’s southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold, where he lived all his life. He returned from abroad to the house, when most people were leaving, during the 2006 war with Israel, when the suburbs were being bombed.
He founded Umam, a research and film production house with a library documenting Lebanon’s and Shia history. His family owns a publishing house and Slim hosted public debates and political forums and art shows, including exhibitions documenting the civil war’s missing. He and his wife worked on a film documenting the atrocities of Syria’s notorious Tadmor prison. In 2009, he and his wife organized a private viewing at their center for an Oscar-nominated anti-war Israeli cartoon about Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon and the rise of the then-President Bachir Gemayel, in defiance of Hezbollah and Lebanese authorities, which banned it. Slim also set up Haya Bina, or “Let’s go,” a group that encouraged participation in 2005 parliamentary elections, called for changes to Lebanon’s sectarian-based system, and taught women English. “It is a big tragedy,” said Makram Rabah, a close friend and history lecturer. “Anyone who knows Lokman they know who his enemies are.” Rabah said he and Slim were strong opponents of Hezbollah’s grip on power and called for sovereignty and diversity in Lebanon. They were both attacked by a group of young men during a public debate at the height of anti-government protests in 2019. Slim at the time accused Hezbollah supporters of being behind the attack. Slim also accused Hezbollah supporters days before that attack of threatening him at his home, holding rallies and hanging posters on its walls accusing him of treason.
‘Sad day in Lebanon,’ says US secretary of state after Hezbollah critic gunned down
Al Arabiya English/Thursday 04 February 2021
The US State Department Thursday blasted the “heinous assassination” of Lebanese anti-Hezbollah critic Lokman Slim. “We condemn in the strongest terms the heinous assassination of prominent Shia activist Lokman Slim and call for the perpetrators to be brought to justice,” State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement. Slim was found dead, lying in a pool of blood along in his rental car in south Lebanon on Thursday. He was an activist and publisher who ran a research center in Beirut’s southern suburbs. “Mr. Slim devoted his life to bringing about positive change in Lebanon and bravely pushed for justice, accountability, and rule of law in his country,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement. Blinken tweeted that it was a “sad day in Lebanon.” His family had reported him missing late Wednesday after visiting a friend’s house in south Lebanon. “It is cowardly and unacceptable to resort to violence, threats, and intimidation as a means of subverting the rule of law or suppressing freedom of expression and civic activism,” Blinken said.
U.S. Ambassador Says Slim’s Murder an ‘Attack on Lebanon Itself’
Naharnet/Thursday 04 February 2021
U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea said Thursday that Lokman Slim’s “barbaric assassination” is “an attack on Lebanon itself,” urging an “expeditious investigation of this and other recent killings.”
”Lokman Slim publicly and privately acknowledged that there were threats being made against his life, and yet he bravely continued to push for justice, accountability, and the rule of law in Lebanon,” Shea said in a video distributed by the U.S. embassy. “This assassination was not just a brutal assault on an individual, but a cowardly attack on the principles of democracy, freedom of expression, and civic participation,” she added. “It is also an attack on Lebanon itself.” Stressing that “the use of threats and intimidation as a means to subvert the rule of law and silence political discourse is unacceptable,” Shea said the U.S. joins “other friends of Lebanon and the country’s leaders who have already condemned this horrific murder,” calling on leaders across the political spectrum to “do the same. ”She added: “We also emphasize the need for an expeditious investigation of this and other recent unresolved killings so that the perpetrators of these acts are brought to justice. ”“In a country that so desperately needs to recover from the multiple crises it faces, political assassinations send exactly the wrong signal to the world about what Lebanon stands for,” Shea warned.
Video’s link: https://app.box.com/s/358dnqpk6x6shptqhz7060h78q8u711u
U.N. Says Killing of Lokman Slim is a Loss for Lebanon
Naharnet/Thursday 04 February 2021
Najat Rochdi, the U.N. Deputy Special Coordinator, Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon, on Thursday expressed her shock and sadness over the assassination of Lebanese anti-Hizbullah activist and publicist Lokman Slim. Rochdi extended her deep condolences to Slim’s family and friends and voiced solidarity with the Lebanese people and society as a whole. “The killing of a courageous and engaged intellectual is a loss to all the Lebanese people,” the U.N. official said. Rochdi urged for a thorough, quick and transparent investigation and judicial process to bring all those responsible for this “outrageous act” to justice. “The Lebanese people deserve an independent and effective judiciary that produces results in a timely manner, ensures accountability and ends impunity in Lebanon,” the U.N. official added.
Rochdi concluded: “Mr. Slim stood for the freedom to express opinions and engage in the civic space. This must be preserved and protected — it is part of the pluralism that defines Lebanon.” Human Rights Watch meanwhile called Slim “a tireless and prolific advocate for a just and democratic Lebanon,” and called for a transparent, independent investigation “to reverse the culture of impunity for grave crimes that has pervaded since the civil war.”
France calls murder of Lebanese anti-Hezbollah activist Lokman Slim ‘heinous crime’
ReutersThursday 04 February 2021
France’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday called the killing of Lebanese anti-Hezbollah activist Lokman Slim a “heinous crime” and demanded a transparent investigation. “France asks that the facts be clearly established and that all those who can contribute to establishing the truth contribute fully,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Agnes von der Muhll said in a statement. “It expects the Lebanese authorities and all Lebanese officials to allow the justice system to act efficiently, transparently and without interference.”
Aoun Urges Speedy Probe in Slim’s Murder, Diab Vows No Leniency
Naharnet/Thursday 04 February 2021
President Michel Aoun on Thursday asked State Prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat to carry out the necessary investigations to unveil the circumstances of the assassination of anti-Hizbullah Shiite activist Lokman Salim in the southern town of al-Addousiyeh. The president also stressed “the need to speed up the investigation” to identify the sides that carried out the murder.Caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab for his part asked caretaker Interior Minister Mohammed Fahmi to order security agencies to conduct prompt investigations in order to “unveil the circumstances, pursue the culprits, arrest them and refer them to the judiciary as soon as possible.”He also emphasized that “this awful crime should not pass without accountability,” pledging that “there will be no leniency in following up these investigations until the end” and that “the state will carry out its duties in this regard.”
Hariri Says Slim was Clear in Identifying Source of ‘Threat’ to Lebanon
Naharnet/Thursday 04 February 2021
Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri on Thursday described slain anti-Hizbullah activist and researcher Lokman Slim as “a new martyr on the path of Lebanon’s freedom and democracy.”“His assassination is inseparable from the course of the previous assassinations. Lokman Slim was perhaps clearer than everyone in pinpointing where the threat to the country is coming from,” Hariri tweeted. “He did not compromise nor back down and he offered his blood and pure soul as a sacrifice for Lebanon’s salvation. May he rest in peace and we and all sovereignty advocates will continue the battle of freedom,” the PM-designate added. He also stressed that “condemnation is no longer enough” and “it is required to unveil the criminals in order to stop the spiteful killing machine.”
Political Figures Erupt over Slim’s Assassination
Naharnet/Thursday 04 February 2021
Lebanese social media and several officials erupted over the murder of prominent Lebanese activist and intellectual, Lokman Slim, on which many were already commenting as the latest in the long list of Lebanon’s political assassinations. Slim, known for his opposition to Hizbullah, was found dead in his car in the country’s south on Thursday. Interior Minister Mohammed Fahmi, quoted in local media, called Slim’s killing a “horrible crime”.Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea said in a tweet: “Lokman Slim is a martyr of free opinion. If evil won one round, good and righteousness shall win a thousand.” The Kataeb Party described the crime as an “execution” in “a stronghold whose orientation and belonging are well-known.” “This crime is a return to the series of political assassinations and a desperate attempt to strike diversity and the other opinion and silence free voices demanding the rise of a sovereign, free and independent state.” The United Nations envoy to Lebanon Jan Kubis wrote that he was saddened by Slim’s murder, describing him as “an honest independent voice of courage”.He also said that, unlike the port blast, Slim’s murder should be investigated in a “speedy and transparent way”.Lokman Slim, 58, had long been a leading secular voice in the Shiite community and was routinely targeted for criticism, and often threatened, over his anti-Hizbullah stance. A gathering of Lebanese Christians, known as “Lady of the Mountain Gathering” denounced Slim’s “assassination.” “The assassination of Lokman Slim is a categorical indication of the bankruptcy of militias that find nothing but terror and violence. Slim was assassinated in Hizbullah stronghold and therefore it is the main suspect. The party better tell the Lebanese how the crime happened or shoulder total responsibility” for it, the Gathering said. MP Marwan Hamadeh said: “In the tenure of terrorism and corruption there is no place for someone like Lokman Slim.” Former MP Bassem al-Sabaa said: “Killing of activist Lokman Slim is a direct message to all Shiite activists, writers and politicians who express their opinions outside the political orbit of Hizbullah.”
Who is Lokman Slim: A profile on Lebanese activist, Hezbollah critic shot to death
Tala Michel Issa, Al Arabiya English with agencies/Thursday 04 February 2021
Lokman Mohsen Slim was a Lebanese publisher and independent social and political activist, who was well-known for being a critic of Iran-backed Hezbollah. Slim had gone missing during a trip back to Beirut on Thursday. He was then found dead a few hours later in the country’s southern region which is heavily controlled by Hezbollah, with four bullets in his head and one in his back. The anti-Hezbollah intellectual believed that he was subject to attacks, threats and intimidation by Hezbollah in December 2019. Slim issued a statement in which he declared that not only was he himself subject to these threats, but so was his wife.“In the event that any verbal or physical attack is carried out on me, my wife, my home or family, I, through this statement, make the de facto forces – represented by Hassan Nasrallah and Nabih Berri – responsible for what happened or what will happen,” the statement read, which he posted on Facebook. Slim published the statement after a group had entered the perimeter of his home to spray death threats onto its walls, to which he then said that he was placing his family and home under the protection and surveillance of the army, reported UK-based media The New Arab. He had been accused of supporting the normalization of relations between Israel and Lebanon.
Dar al-Jadeed
In Haret Hreik, a village near Beirut where he was born in 1962, Slim founded independent Lebanese publishing house Dar al-Jadeed in 1990 which published Arabic literature and articles that stirred controversy throughout the country, according to independent Lebanese news platform L’Orient-Le Jour.
He then co-founded Umam Documentation and Research center in 2004 through which he dedicated a large portion of resources to recording, compiling, preserving, and promoting Lebanese history. He published several historical documents and works for art.
Prior to this, he moved to France in 1982, where he lived for six years, to pursue a degree in philosophy at the Sorbonne University. Some books from his publishing house were censored and banned by the Lebanese General Security, one of which included the first Arabic translations of former Iranian reformist president Muhammad Khatami’s writings. This specific piece generated a great deal of controversy within Lebanon’s Shia community.
Social activism
Slim’s most recent project, Hayya Bina (Let’s Go), was an initiative which was launched back in 2005 during the parliamentary elections in Lebanon. This was published in a bid to promote citizen involvement throughout the political process and to criticize the sectarian system of the country. Lebanon’s government has long been a religious-based one, further emphasizing the polarization and division of the people for decades. The activist’s Hayya Bina project gave rise to several public advocacy projects within the country’s Shia areas. For instance, state media the Daily Star reported that in Shmustar, a Shia-majority area of Lebanon, project staff publicly advocated to clean up the area during the garbage crisis to protect the village from diseases and in Baalbek, the project’s field staff launched an initiative to boost the economic prosperity of local farmers. The years that followed saw projects such as ‘Teach Women English’ which saw the recruitment of teachers in rural areas to help boost the economically stagnant and depressed areas of the south through education.
Art
Slim established Umam Productions in 2001, a film company which eventually produced a variety of films such as Massaker, which he co-directed himself, winning an international film award in Berlin in 2005. The film had elements of psychology and politics, as it studied the crimes of six perpetrators and their roles in Lebanon’s 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacres, murdering between 1,000 and 3,000 Palestinian civilians in the Lebanese-Palestinian camps, according to film and TV database IMDb. Umam Documentation and Research has long been organizing and creating an open archive of materials pertaining to the country’s history, on both social and political levels. According to peacebuilding resource for conflict zones Peace Insight, the non-profit organization has also facilitated and organized art exhibitions, film screenings and discussions to address peoples’ painful memories and thoughts on the Lebanese Civil War which took place between 1975 and 1990. One of the company’s ongoing exhibits since 2008, entitled ‘Missing’, constitutes of a collage of photos which depicts some of the people who had gone missing during the civil war.
– With agencies
Lokman Slim: Daring Lebanese Activist, Admired Intellectual
Agence France Presse/Thursday 04 February 2021
Lebanese intellectual Lokman Slim, found shot dead Thursday at age 58, was an outspoken critic of Iran-backed Hizbullah and an advocate for preserving the memory of his country’s civil war. The son of a prominent lawyer and an Egyptian mother, Slim was an activist, writer, publisher and filmmaker, and a leading secular voice in the Shiite Muslim community.
He advocated curbing the influence of Hizbullah, the pro-Iran and anti-Israel political party and armed group that has millions of followers in Lebanon but is labelled a “terrorist” group by the U.S., EU and other governments.
Slim also spent years working relentlessly to preserve Lebanon’s collective memory of its 1975-1990 civil war and carried out acclaimed research on topics such as mass graves and transitional justice.
He created an organization called Umam Documentation and Research with the aim of building an unparalleled archive of the civil war, arguing that Lebanon could not move forward until it has dealt with its past.
He was known for his love of books and mastery of the Arabic language.
His home in the southern Beirut suburbs, known as Villa Slim, was a hub of cultural activity where several languages could always be heard and where film screenings and exhibitions were often organized.
Despite having been singled out by Hizbullah supporters as an enemy and frequently accused of being on the U.S. embassy’s payroll, he used to tell his friends he was not worried about his safety.
He would argue that should he be killed, everybody would know who was behind it. “He used to tell me he was not afraid of death,” his sister Rasha al-Ameer told AFP. “They have killed an exceptional human being.”
House always open –
While Slim’s murder put the spotlight on his political activism, his greatest legacy will likely be his relentless commitment to fostering a collective Lebanese memory and spirit of accountability. “Lokman Slim was at the forefront of the struggle against impunity in post-war Lebanon,” said Amnesty International’s regional director Lynn Maalouf. In 2008, he founded the Haya Bina association with the goal to “defend principles of citizenship, tolerance, pluralism, democracy and human rights.”
During cross-sectarian pro-democracy protests in late 2019, thugs loyal to Hizbullah and the other main Shiite party Amal were involved in several violent incidents. They beat up protesters and in one instance in December that year plastered messages on the walls of Slim’s home calling him a traitor and warning that his “time will come.”
But he lived with no personal security and the gates to his house were famously always open. After studying philosophy in Paris, Slim founded the Dar al-Jadeed publishing house, which promoted new and controversial writers and for the first time translated works by former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami into Arabic. Slim was an essayist himself and also made several documentary films with his German-Lebanese wife Monika Borgmann.
Their film “Massaker” — which studied six perpetrators of the 1982 Christian militia massacres of 1,000 people at the Sabra and Shatila Palestinian camps in Beirut — was awarded the Fipresci Prize at the 2005 Berlinale.
It was during the production of “Massaker” that he and Borgmann discovered that Lebanon had neither a central archive nor a national library, leading them to found Umam in 2005. In their 2016 film “Tadmur”, Lebanese men recounted their ordeal as detainees in Syria’s infamously brutal Palmyra prison.
He had recently been working on a project to document Syria’s almost 10-year-old civil war.
Hizbullah Condemns Slim’s Murder, Warns against ‘Political Exploitation’
Associated Press/February 04/2021
Hizbullah on Thursday condemned the assassination of rival activist and researcher Lokman Slim. In a statement, the party deplored “the killing of political activist Lokman Slim,” urging the competent judicial and security agencies to “work quickly on unveiling and penalizing the perpetrators.”
Hizbullah also called on authorities to “combat the crimes that are moving from one area to another in Lebanon and the accompanying political and media exploitation that comes at the expense of domestic security and stability.” Slim, a prominent and long-time publisher and vocal critic of Hizbullah was found shot dead in his car on Thursday morning, a brazen killing that sparked fears of a return to political violence in this country gripped by social and economic upheaval. To his friends, Slim was a fearless critic of Lebanon’s powerful politicians, Hizbullah and its allies Iran and Syria. Critics, however, accused Slim of sowing sedition, undermining national unity and being a “Zionist” because of his criticisms of Hizbullah. “He was carrying the weight of this country on his shoulder,” his sister Rasha al-Ameer told reporters at their home after the news of the killing broke. She said she has no faith in local investigations and that the family would carry out its own private forensic probe. “Up until today in the history of Lebanon, all investigations have led to a dead end,” she told reporters. She had earlier in the day hinted that Hizbullah was behind the killing, without naming the group, adding that it is known who controls the area where her brother was found dead. “Killing for them is a habit,” she said. Hizbullah and its allies dominate the area in southern Lebanon.
Amal Condemns Slim’s Murder, FPM Urges No ‘Exploitation’
Naharnet/February 04/2021
Hizbullah on Thursday condemned the The Amal Movement on Thursday condemned “the crime of the assassination of political activist and researched Lokman Slim.” In a statement, Amal’s Central Press Office also demanded “a security and judicial investigation as soon as possible to unveil the culprits and punish them.”The Free Patriotic Movement meanwhile deplored Slim’s assassination and called on judicial and security agencies to “finish the investigations with the needed speed in order to fulfill justice and honor the truth.”
The FPM also called for refraining from “exploiting this crime to stir strife,” warning that “the usual blood hunters have started a political exploitation process.”It added that “the strictest penalties should be handed to its perpetrators whoever they may be to underline that assassinations and political violence are two things that cannot be tolerated in Lebanon, because they contradict with the meaning of the pluralism of the Lebanese.” “Having a different opinion is a sacred right and is at the heart of the FPM’s rhetoric and approach,” the Movement added.
“Killing of Lebanese anti-Hezbollah activist Luqman Slim sparks fury
Najia Houssari/Arab News/February 04/2021
Caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab promises ‘thorough investigation’
BEIRUT/LONDON: Lebanese author and activist Luqman Slim, 59, was found dead on Thursday morning in the southern region of Zahrani. His killing was the first of a Lebanese Shiite anti-Hezbollah figure since 2004.
News of Slim’s disappearance broke on Thursday morning after nothing was heard from him on Wednesday evening after he started travelling home from visiting family in the southern village of Niha.
Rasha Al-Ameer, Slim’s sister, announced his disappearance on social media, asking for information to help recover him.
But in the early hours of Thursday morning, the news changed from a missing person to an assassination after Slim’s body was found in his car in one of the orchards of the Al-Adousiya area.
“We are demanding a thorough investigation which should determine the motive behind the killing and hold the perpetrators accountable,” Sherif Mansour, the MENA Program Coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists, told Arab News.
“The bottom line is that censorship including against critical journalists by fractions within Lebanon should not go unpunished and what we hope to see is that Hezbollah, especially because of their prior threats, will be questioned and pressured to provide answers.”
“In terms of censorship, we hope that the various Lebanese authorities would respect any media institution that has worked to cover not just this issue but others that are currently facing censorship by Hezbollah affiliates in Lebanon so that they can continue to operate without harassment or retaliation.”
A protester holds a picture of Luqman Slim, who has been found dead in his car, during a protest in front of the Justice Palace in Beirut on Feb. 4, 2021. (AP)
Forensic doctor Afif Khafaja said that “the body was hit with five bullets, four in the head and one in the back,” which is an uncommon method of assassination. No identification cards were found on the body.
Slim’s family used a mobile application to locate his cell phone, which was found tossed in one of the orchards near the house he was at in Niha.
His killing is the culmination of a series of threats Slim has received for many years — which intensified in recent months — for his strong anti-Hezbollah stance.
He was accused by Hezbollah and its members of being an “Israeli agent” or “a Shiite of the American Embassy.”
The activist chose not to hide in his home in the region of Ghobeiry despite the threats he had received, refusing to let intimidation prevent him from publishing his ideas. Threats were sent through flyers that were thrown into his garden and read “muffler” and “Hezbollah is the nation’s honor.”
Luqman Slim was a prominent Lebanese activist who often criticized Hezbollah.
In a statement he issued in 2019, he blamed “all that has happened and may happen in the future on the de facto forces represented by Hassan Nasrallah and Nabih Berri,” adding: “I place myself and my home under the protection of the Lebanese security forces, particularly the Lebanese Army.”
“This is a reminder of the risk journalists face in Lebanon, including those who have paid the ultimate price,” Mansour of the CPJ added, saying that, “I was reminded of the first documented murder an anti-Iran Shia journalist in 1992, Mustapha Jeha, and that also includes 3 other known cases in 2000 including prominent writers and intellectuals.”
Jeha was killed by unidentified gunmen while driving his car in an east Beirut suburb on Jan. 15, 1992.
Slim had turned his family home and the surrounding garden into a sanctuary for hosting intellectual and cultural activities.
He hailed from a family known for its knowledge, culture, openness and involvement in public affairs. His father, Mohsen Slim, was an MP and a prominent lawyer, while his uncle, Karim Slim, was an important judge.
Security sources told Arab News that “the area in which Slim’s body was found is a mandatory crossing route from Tyre district’s Niha village towards Beirut, through the Zahrani highway. However, Al-Adousiya’s population, where his body was found, has a majority of Christians and its overt loyalty is to the Free Patriotic Movement, while the neighboring town of Tuftaha has a Shiite majority and the majority of the town’s political affiliation is mixed between the Amal movement and Hezbollah. Whoever committed his crime has carefully chosen this area to dispose of the body.”
The judiciary instructed the Information Division of the Lebanese Internal Security Forces to conduct a complete scan of security cameras in the area to find out the route that Slim’s car took before his killing, and to download and analyze the data on his cell phone.
In her first comment on the assassination of her brother, Al-Ameer said: “We know who the killer is. He has control over the area in which Luqman was killed. Whoever threatened Luqman is involved in his murder, it has their signature all over it. They want everyone to leave and for only the killers to stay.”
The murder of Slim, who represents the opposing opinion within the Shiite community in Lebanon, provoked angry reactions across Lebanon.
President Michel Aoun requested a “swift investigation to clear up the circumstances of the crime and the parties behind it.”
The caretaker Interior Minister Mohammed Fahmi described the incident as a “horrific crime.”
Police gather at the side where the body of anti-Hezbollah journalist and activist Luqman Slim was found in his car. (Reuters)
Slim, one of the most prominent Lebanese intellectuals to be gunned down since historian Samir Kassir in 2005, was born in Beirut in 1962 and studied in France late in the 1975-1990 civil war.
His murder comes as Lebanon marked six months since a devastating blast at the capital’s port killed more than 200 people and ravaged entire neighborhoods.
What was one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history was caused by a years-old stock of highly explosive ammonium nitrate in a port warehouse.
Yet Lebanon’s own investigation into the presence of the material and its ignition appears to be completely stalled.
Hezbollah’s enemies pointed a finger at the Shiite militia’s influence over Lebanese customs and port security following the explosion.
According to a judicial official, the prosecutor tasked with investigating the blast started looking into possible connections to Syrian businessmen this week.
The United Nations envoy to Lebanon Jan Kubis wrote he was saddened by Slim’s murder, describing him as “an honest independent voice of courage.”
He also said that, unlike the port blast, Slim’s murder should be investigated in a “speedy and transparent way.”
Former premier Saad Al-Hariri, whose father’s assassination sparked regional turmoil in 2005, said Slim had been clearer than most in identifying the source of danger to the nation.
“Luqman Slim is a new victim on the path to freedom and democracy in Lebanon and his assassination is inseparable from the context of the assassinations of his predecessor, he said in a tweet.
France’s Foreign Ministry called the killing a “heinous crime” and demanded a transparent investigation. “France asks that the facts be clearly established and that all those who can contribute to establishing the truth contribute fully,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Agnes von der Muhll said in a statement.
“It expects the Lebanese authorities and all Lebanese officials to allow the justice system to act efficiently, transparently and without interference.”
France’s ambassador, Anne Grillo, spoke on social media of her “immense sadness and preoccupation” over Slim’s killing.
(With AFP and Reuters)
