عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Arab World

US Envoy: Killing of Lebanese Activist Lokman Slim ‘Barbaric Act’

Activists display placards bearing the portrait of slain prominent activist Lokman Slim and the Arabic slogan ‘zero fear’ at a demonstration in downtown Beirut on Feb. 9, 2021. (AFP)
Activists display placards bearing the portrait of slain prominent activist Lokman Slim and the Arabic slogan ‘zero fear’ at a demonstration in downtown Beirut on Feb. 9, 2021. (AFP)
TT
20
TT

US Envoy: Killing of Lebanese Activist Lokman Slim ‘Barbaric Act’

Activists display placards bearing the portrait of slain prominent activist Lokman Slim and the Arabic slogan ‘zero fear’ at a demonstration in downtown Beirut on Feb. 9, 2021. (AFP)
Activists display placards bearing the portrait of slain prominent activist Lokman Slim and the Arabic slogan ‘zero fear’ at a demonstration in downtown Beirut on Feb. 9, 2021. (AFP)

The US ambassador to Lebanon paid a rare visit to a quarter of Beirut that is a Hezbollah stronghold to attend the memorial service for activist Lokman Slim on Thursday.

He was shot dead and found in his car last Thursday in south Lebanon — the first killing of a high-profile activist in years.

“This was a barbaric act, unforgivable and unacceptable,” Dorothy Shea said in a speech at the service which was held at the family home in Beirut’s Dahiya quarter.

Slim ran a research center, made documentaries with his wife and led efforts to build an archive on Lebanon’s 1975-1990 sectarian civil war.

Most Viewed

 
Arab World

Iraq’s Sadr to Boycott Elections, Says Doesn’t Want to Work with ‘Corrupt’ Figures

Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr shows his ink-stained finger after casting his vote at a polling station in Najaf, Iraq, in May 2018. (Reuters)
Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr shows his ink-stained finger after casting his vote at a polling station in Najaf, Iraq, in May 2018. (Reuters)
TT
20
TT

Iraq’s Sadr to Boycott Elections, Says Doesn’t Want to Work with ‘Corrupt’ Figures

Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr shows his ink-stained finger after casting his vote at a polling station in Najaf, Iraq, in May 2018. (Reuters)
Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr shows his ink-stained finger after casting his vote at a polling station in Najaf, Iraq, in May 2018. (Reuters)

Head of Iraq’s Sadrist movement influential cleric Moqtada al-Sadr announced on Friday that he was boycotting the upcoming parliamentary elections, citing the involvement of “corrupt” figures in the process.

“Let everyone know that as long as corruption exists, I will not take part in any flawed electoral process that only concerns itself with sectarian and partisan interests, not the people’s suffering and all the catastrophes going on in the region,” he added.

“Dragging Iraq and its people into needless conflicts is the primary reason for these catastrophes,” he went on to say.

Sadr therefore called on his supporters to refrain from voting or running in the elections.

“What point is there in taking part in rule with corrupt figures?” he wondered.

Earlier in March, Sadr had invited former MPs from the Sadr bloc to a Ramadan iftar, fueling speculation that he was going to end his boycott of political life. Some 200 Sadrist MPs, who had run for election between 2005 and 2018, attended the iftar.

Shiite parties, most notably Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and former PM Nouri al-Maliki, were seeking rapprochement with Sadr in the hopes of forging an alliance in the elections.