WTF
Myriam Dalal

The Most Shameful News Stories in Lebanon (So Far) This Year

It’s not even the end of the year yet, and we’ve already seen plenty of inhumanity happening in Lebanon.

Fair warning, this list is kind of depressing and not for the weak of heart. But shame on us if we don’t take a moment to remember the people have been targeted, attacked, manipulated and even killed because of a genuine lack of justice in this country.

1. Arsal attack on Lebanese Armed Forces
Date: February 2013
Victims: Captain Pierre Bashalani, 31 and Sergeant Ibrahim Zahraman, 32.


(Aljadeed’s video showing the dead soldiers being transferred to the mayor’s office.)

Two Lebanese Armed Forces soldiers were ambushed in the eastern town of Arsal near the border with Syria. Their weapons were taken from them and they were beaten before being shot in the head.

2.Racist curfews
Date: February 2013
Victims: Foreigners, mostly Syrian


(Picture shows the sign Beit Al Chaar’s municipality put up forbidding foreign workers from circulating at night. Photo via the Anti-Racism Movement.)

“The municipality announces that it is strictly forbidden for foreigners to wander the streets between 8:30 p.m. and 5:30 a.m.” The sign was practically copy pasted through different regions and neighborhoods in Lebanon, imposed in an attempt to control the alarming increase in neighborhood thefts and other instances of petty crime.

3.Syrian Man publicly beaten and humiliated in Tripoli
Date: April 2013
Victim: Yasser Mustapha Bazzazi


(Al-Jadeed’s video shows Bazzazzi during the assault.)

Accused of being a spy, people gathered in Tripoli to participate and/or witness the humiliation of a Syrian national. The perpetrators scrawled writing on his body that read “shabbih” and “Nouseiri shabbih.”
Bazzazi was dragged three kilometers through the streets of Tripoli by a hoard of angry Lebanese with a rope tied around his neck.

4. Gay nightclub patrons undergo humiliating interrogations
Date: April 2013
Victim: Ghost customers, including a female transvestite


(LBC’s video report shows pictures of transvestites who were forced to take their clothes off during the investigation.)

According to Al-Akhbar newspaper, gay-friendly club “Ghost” was ordered shut down by the mayor of Dekwaneh on charges of “promoting prostitution, drugs and homosexuality.” One of the detainees, a Lebanese transsexual woman, was harassed, beaten and forced to undress in the municipal headquarters.

5. Little Girl taught how to Use AK-47 in Tripoli
Date: May 2013
Victim: Unidentified child


(Video shows the girl being trained to use the weapon and aiming at Jabal Mehsen.)

The video shows a man teaching a little girl how to fire an AK-47 repeatedly, with the sound of gunshots resounding through the air. Instead of looking disgruntled or upset, the little girl turns and smiles proudly, looking up at the man with a huge grin.

6. Assir Supporter Harassed, Beaten by Lebanese Army
Date: June 2013

Victim: Unarmed Syrian civilian


(Video shows the unarmed supporter during the investigations with the Lebanese army soldiers.)

While Saida clashes between the Lebanese army and hardliner Sunni Sheikh Ahmad Al-Assir supporters were finally coming to a close, this YouTube video surfaced showing army members grouped around an unarmed civilian, who identifies himself as an Assir supporter, as they verbally harass and beat the man.

7. Protester killed outside Iranian embassy in Beirut
Date: June 2013
Victim: Hachem Salman


(Photo via the Daily Star newspaper, Salman, a 28-year-old student and committee representative of the Lebanese Option Party, was killed while protesting Hezbollah’s military involvement in the Syrian conflict outside the Iranian Embassy.

8. Murder of Syrian commentator shot 30 times
Date: July 2013
Victim: Mohammad Darrar Jammo


(Al-Jadeed’s report shows the body of Jamo, shot 30 times.)

According to Naharnet, Jammo was killed when gunmen attacked him in his apartment in the town of Sarafand. Jammo, a 44-year-old journalist and political commentator, was one of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s defenders. He was shot 30 times.
According to Aljadeed news , Jammo’s wife is suspected of ordering her brother and a nephew of her husband to kill Mohammad Jammo.

9. Lebanese woman beaten to death by her husband
Date: July 2013
Victim: Roula Yaacoub.


(A photo found on Roula Yaccoub’s Facebook page shows the 33-year-old woman surrounded by her five children.)

Roula Yaacoub is a 31-year-old woman who was pronounced dead after being found beaten and unconscious at her home following a domestic dispute with her husband, Karam Bazi. He has not been charged with her death yet, and has retained custody of his five daughters.

10. Man’s penis cut off after family disapproves of marriage
Date: July 2013
Victim: Rabee Al Ahmad


(Al-Jadeed’s interview with Rabee Al-Ahmad details how he was brutally beaten and castrated before having his penis cut off.)

Rabee married his bride to the disapproval of her family, who reportedly lives in Baysour. The family of the bride reportedly invited the man over for reconciliation, then beat him unconscious,cut off his penis and crushed his balls.