Resigned MP Sami Gemayel , the head of Lebanon’s Kataeb Party visited the family of slain Luqman Slim days before the first anniversary of his assassination.
During his visit he addressed Hezbollah , which is blamed for Slim’s assassination ‘the hour of truth and accountability is coming’
He told Slim’s family ” we will continue the struggle until peace, security, law and order prevail.”
In a statement on social media, he said “we will always honor the martyrs of freedom ” and attached to his statement a photo of the visit he made to the Slim family. , accompanied by the deputy head of the party, George Greige
Lebanese author and activist Lokman Slim, 59, was found dead on Feb 4, 2021 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 morning of February 4th after nothing was heard from him after visiting his 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 on Feb 4, 2021 , 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 and added
“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.”
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 had, in the days before the killing, stated that Hezbollah supporters had been threatening him at his home and accusing him of treason. After the death was confirmed, Jawad Nasrallah, the son of Hezbollah’s leader, tweeted: “The loss of some people is in fact an unplanned gain #notsorry”. He later deleted the message and denied that he had been referring to Slim . Hezbollah condemned the killing, denied any involvement and called for an immediate investigation. judged that Slim was “one in a long list of killings” befalling Hezbollah’s critics, and that “no one in Lebanon expects any resolution to Slim’s murder”.
He was a publisher, political activist and commentator , known to be a prominent critic of Hezbollah (but also critical of all other sectarian parties ). Many people including his sister have alleged Hezbollah to have committed the assassination
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