Lebanese Judiciary Sentences Bashir Gemayel’s Killers to Death

Lebanese policemen are seen in front of a court building in Beirut, Lebanon during the verdict in Gemayel’s assassination case October 20, 2017. REUTERS/Jamal Saidi
Lebanese policemen are seen in front of a court building in Beirut, Lebanon during the verdict in Gemayel’s assassination case October 20, 2017. REUTERS/Jamal Saidi
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Lebanese Judiciary Sentences Bashir Gemayel’s Killers to Death

Lebanese policemen are seen in front of a court building in Beirut, Lebanon during the verdict in Gemayel’s assassination case October 20, 2017. REUTERS/Jamal Saidi
Lebanese policemen are seen in front of a court building in Beirut, Lebanon during the verdict in Gemayel’s assassination case October 20, 2017. REUTERS/Jamal Saidi

The Lebanese judiciary has sentenced to death in absentia former official in the Syrian Socialist National Party Nabil Alam and party member Habib Shartouni in the assassination of President-elect Bashir Gemayel 35 years ago.

As the Judicial Council went into session on Friday, members of the Syrian Socialist National Party held a protest amid tight security measures. The demonstrators hoisted posters of Shartouni and shouted slogans in his support outside the Justice Palace.

After the sentence was announced, Kataeb Party and Lebanese Forces members gathered to celebrate at Sassine Square, in Beirut’s Achrafieh district where Gemayel was killed in a bomb explosion on September 14, 1982 only 20 days after his election as president.

The bomb went off at Kataeb’s headquarters, leaving another 23 people dead.

Shartouni had confessed to planting and detonating the bomb and was given 24 hours to turn himself in when the trial was opened in November 2016. But he did not appear before the court and was tried in absentia.

He is believed to be living in Syria, having escaped prison in October 1990 after Syrian troops stormed east Beirut and brought down the government that was led by Gen. Michel Aoun (Lebanon’s current president).

In 2014, media reports said Alam had died. But this week, an interview for Shartouni was published in the local Al-Akhbar newspaper, which described him as a “hero.”

In its verdict, the judicial council said the two suspects carried out an act of terrorism and played a part in hampering attempts to stabilize the country.

“Finally, the verdict was released in the name of the Lebanese people after 35 years of working for (justice) for Bashir and his friends,” Solange Gemayel, Bachir’s widow, said after the court’s decision.

Gemayel thanked the council and said the decision allowed the state to regain its authority and the Lebanese peoples’ belief in constitutional institutions.



Sudan's Military Accepts UN Proposal of a Weeklong Ceasefire in El Fasher for Aid Distribution

The wreckage of cars lie on the remains of the Shambat Bridge, which connects Omdurman and Bahri, on June 24, 2025 in the Sudanese capital region. (AFP)
The wreckage of cars lie on the remains of the Shambat Bridge, which connects Omdurman and Bahri, on June 24, 2025 in the Sudanese capital region. (AFP)
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Sudan's Military Accepts UN Proposal of a Weeklong Ceasefire in El Fasher for Aid Distribution

The wreckage of cars lie on the remains of the Shambat Bridge, which connects Omdurman and Bahri, on June 24, 2025 in the Sudanese capital region. (AFP)
The wreckage of cars lie on the remains of the Shambat Bridge, which connects Omdurman and Bahri, on June 24, 2025 in the Sudanese capital region. (AFP)

Sudan's military agreed to a proposal from the United Nations for a weeklong ceasefire in El Fasher to facilitate UN aid efforts to the area, the army said Friday.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres called Sudanese military leader Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan and asked him for the humanitarian truce in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur province, to allow aid delivery.

Burhan agreed to the proposal and stressed the importance of implementing relevant UN Security Council resolutions, but it’s unknown whether the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces would agree and comply with the ceasefire.

“We are making contacts with both sides with that objective, and that was the fundamental reason for that phone contact. We have a dramatic situation in El Fasher,” Guterres told reporters on Friday.

No further details were revealed about the specifics of the ceasefire, including when it could go into effect.

Sudan plunged into war in April 2023 when simmering tensions between the Sudanese army and the rival RSF escalated into battles in the capital, Khartoum, and spread across the country, killing more than 20,000 people.

The war has also driven more than 14 million people from their homes and pushed parts of the country into famine. UNICEF said earlier this year that an estimated 61,800 children have been internally displaced since the war began.

Guterres said on Friday that a humanitarian truce is needed for effective aid distribution, and it must be agreed upon several days in advance to prepare for a large-scale delivery in the El Fasher area, which has seen repeated waves of violence recently.

El Fasher, more than 800 kilometers (500 miles) southwest of Khartoum, is under the control of the military. The RSF has been trying to capture El Fasher for a year to solidify its control over the entire Darfur region. The paramilitary’s attempts included launching repeated attacks on the city and two major famine-stricken displacement camps on its outskirts.