Two Years Later, No Justice for Slain Anti-Hezbollah Activist Lokman Slim

Lokman Slim’s sister (left) and his wife hold his picture in the family’s home in the southern suburbs of Beirut. (Lokman Slim Foundation website)
Lokman Slim’s sister (left) and his wife hold his picture in the family’s home in the southern suburbs of Beirut. (Lokman Slim Foundation website)
TT
20

Two Years Later, No Justice for Slain Anti-Hezbollah Activist Lokman Slim

Lokman Slim’s sister (left) and his wife hold his picture in the family’s home in the southern suburbs of Beirut. (Lokman Slim Foundation website)
Lokman Slim’s sister (left) and his wife hold his picture in the family’s home in the southern suburbs of Beirut. (Lokman Slim Foundation website)

Two years after the murder of Lebanese intellectual and Hezbollah critic Lokman Slim, no indictment was issued by the Lebanese judiciary in a country, where impunity has become part of the public scene, as stated by Slim’s sister, Publisher Rasha Al-Amir.

Lokman Slim was found dead in his car on February 4, 2021, a day after his family reported him missing. His body was found in southern Lebanon -- a stronghold of Hezbollah. He was an outspoken activist and a researcher passionate about documenting the civil war that raged from 1975-1990 in Lebanon.

While the Lebanese authorities completed their investigation into the case, the judiciary “did not issue a scrap of paper,” according to judicial sources who spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat on condition of anonymity.

This Friday, Slim’s family, friends, and institutions commemorate the second anniversary of his assassination, in a series of ceremonies that extend over three days, accompanied by national and cultural activities inspired by this occasion.

Members of his family, diplomats and friends will speak on the first day at an event in his home in the southern suburbs of Beirut, during which four awards bearing his name will be distributed. The ceremony will be followed by a visit to Lokman’s institutions.

His sister, Rasha Al-Amir, spoke sadly about the situation of Lebanon’s judicial institution, but insisted that justice would return.

She told Asharq Al-Awsat that over the past months, despite the judicial strikes, “Judge Charbel Abu Samra, who was assigned the file, used to come to his office, and we would see him on a monthly basis.”

The judge is “brave” and “spared no effort in the case,” she said, adding that the judiciary in Lebanon was “restricted by dozens of red lines.”

Al-Amir pointed to the numerous political assassinations that shook Lebanon during the past decades and noted that indictments were issued in only three of them, referring to the assassination of Kamel Mroueh in the 1960s, President Bashir Gemayel in the 1980s, and Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005.

However, the perpetrators remained free due to the “red lines”, she said.

The investigations carried out by the Information Division of the Internal Security Forces and the Army Intelligence Directorate have ended, without any outcome revealed.

The Dar Al-Jadeed Foundation, in cooperation with French-language newspaper L’Orient-Le Jour, issued a booklet on the second anniversary of Slim’s assassination, recounting the circumstances of the crime.

While the accounts will be published in Arabic, French and English, no legal indictment has been issued in the case, “because the judiciary does not want to see the killers, and I do not think that it will ask them so as not to endanger itself,” said Rasha al-Amir.

“The game has become very exposed. In form, there is a judiciary and parliament, but in terms of content, there is nothing of that,” she stated.



Medical Charity Condemns Israel's Use of Hunger as 'Weapon of War' in Gaza

A Palestinian boy at a garbage dump in central Gaza City, 12 May 2025. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER
A Palestinian boy at a garbage dump in central Gaza City, 12 May 2025. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER
TT
20

Medical Charity Condemns Israel's Use of Hunger as 'Weapon of War' in Gaza

A Palestinian boy at a garbage dump in central Gaza City, 12 May 2025. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER
A Palestinian boy at a garbage dump in central Gaza City, 12 May 2025. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER

A months-long Israeli blockade is worsening acute malnutrition in the Gaza Strip, medical charity Medecins du Monde warned on Tuesday, accusing Israel of using hunger as "a weapon of war".

Israel halted all aid from entering the war-ravaged Palestinian territory on March 2, days before resuming its offensive triggered by Hamas's October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel.

The United Nations and aid agencies have repeatedly warned of a growing humanitarian catastrophe for the roughly 2.4 million people in Gaza, amid dwindling supplies of everything from fuel and medicine to food and clean water.

Aid reaches Gaza mainly through Israeli-controlled entry points, though the flow has fluctuated -- even before the March shutdown.

After more than a year and a half of war, acute malnutrition in Gaza has "reached levels comparable to those seen in countries facing prolonged humanitarian crises spanning several decades," AFP quoted Medecins du Monde as saying.

MDM said data from six health centers it runs in the Palestinian territory highlighted "the human responsibility for hunger in Gaza".

"Acute malnutrition rates among pregnant and breastfeeding women and children depend on the Israeli authorities' decisions to allow or block humanitarian aid," it said.

The medical charity said the peaks in acute malnutrition it observed in 2024 "coincided with the sharpest decline in the monthly number of trucks delivering aid to Gaza".

MDM said it saw a peak in child acute malnutrition of 17 percent in November, during a significant reduction of humanitarian aid.

Aid access is limited to Israeli-controlled crossings, with the Rafah crossing on the border with Egypt closed since the Israeli army took control of the city in spring 2024.

Israeli authorities have closed the crossing points since March 2, saying they want to force Hamas to release hostages.

The security cabinet in early May approved the "possibility of humanitarian distribution, if necessary" in Gaza, but insisted there was "currently enough food".

The UN's World Food Program in late April said it had depleted all its food stocks in the territory.

"We are not witnessing a humanitarian crisis but a crisis of humanity and moral bankruptcy with the use of hunger as a weapon of war," said Jean-Francois Corty, president of MDM.

"The failure of other countries with the power to pressure the Israeli authorities to lift this deadly siege is unacceptable and could be seen as complicity under international law," he added.

In April, one in five pregnant or breastfeeding women and nearly one in four children MDM observed were suffering or were at high risk of acute malnutrition, the charity said.

The MDM report also detailed the domino effect of dwindling food reserves, as well as the destruction of agricultural facilities and sanitation systems, on the malnutrition crisis.

The organization said it could not officially declare famine underway due to a lack of comprehensive data covering the entire Palestinian territory.

The UN- and NGO-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification warned Monday that Gaza was at "critical risk of famine", with 22 percent of the population facing an imminent humanitarian "catastrophe".