As heartbreaking recollections of the port blast make their way back into the minds of Lebanese, the question of justice for the victims of the crime has forcefully returned to the fore. And justice inevitably comes with demands for the truth: Why did what happened happen? Who did it? Who made the order? However, justice returns as an impossible, unattainable object. Judge Tarek Bitar having his hands tied, after the dismissal of Judge Fadi Sawan, merely encapsulated this state of affairs, besides serving as an early omen for what was to come.
One year after the murder of Lokman Slim, a Lebanese journalist and political analyst who had been threatened by Hezbollah activists for months, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has referred the decline in the security of journalists in Lebanon to the UN and has asked it to ensure that the authorities take all necessary measure to protect them and guarantee their safety.
"Journalists are paying a high price for the culture of impunity that prevails in Lebanon. It is essential that those responsible for these crimes are identified, prosecuted and convicted."
The American Mideast Coalition for Democracy is sounding the alarm on a string of unsolved murders involving prominent critics of Hezbollah and other terror