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Friday, 12 February, 2021 - 10:00
US Ambassador Dorothy Shea speaks during the funerals of Lokman Slim in Haret Hreik on Thursday. (AFP) Beirut - Nazeer Rida
The funeral of Lebanese researcher and publisher Lokman Slim, a harsh Hezbollah critic, was on Thursday attended by western diplomats, including US Ambassador Dorothy Shea, who came to the family house in Beirut’s southern suburbs, the party’s stronghold.
The ambassadors of Britain, Germany, Switzerland and Canada sent a clear message that the international community stood ready to assist the Lebanese authorities in carrying out a transparent investigation to hold Slim’s killers accountable.
A week after he was found shot dead in the south of the country, Slim’s family organized a ceremony honoring him in the garden of their home in Haret Hreik, where they set up a memorial.
Family, friends bid farewell to slain Lebanese publisher myjournalcourier.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from myjournalcourier.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Mourners have attended the funeral of a slain Lebanese publisher and outspoken Hezbollah critic whose murder last week provoked a public outcry.
Lokman Slim was found dead with six bullets in his body last week on a deserted rural road in the country’s south, in the first high-profile killing in Lebanon in years that sparked fears of a new wave of political violence amid deepening social and economic turmoil.
Thursday’s memorial service took place at Slim’s family home in the southern suburbs of the capital, Beirut, with relatives, friends and diplomats in attendance.
“Weapons don’t serve the country. They didn’t serve me, they cost me my son,” Salma Mershak, Slim’s mother and an historian, said at the ceremony, calling people to protect his legacy and the country from descending into violence.