Graffiti Artist Yazan Halwani Unlawfully Detained Over the Weekend

On Saturday, local street artist Yazan Halwani was detained by Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces for two and a half hours after members of an obscure political party interrupted an interview he was filming with regional television network Al-Hurra from his grandmother’s front doorstep.

(Photo via Facebook)

Members of Jabhat al-Amal Al-Islami disrupted the interview by yelling insults and claiming that filming was prohibited. Halwani’s art studio is located in the neighborhood of Mousaytbeh in his grandmother’s house, which happens to be below the party’s headquarters and also facing the home of a high ranking Interior Security Officer. The street, according to the graffiti artist, is constantly teeming with both armed party members and ISF.

He detailed the incident in a post on Facebook Sunday, expressing sentiments of dissatisfaction that many of us share. “This country is no longer ours,” he wrote.

Halwani painted this graffiti of famed Lebanese singer Fayrouz in the alleyway next to the 392Rmeil393 art gallery in Gemmayzeh in June of 2013.(Photo via Facebook)

Beirut.com got in touch with Halwani, who sarcastically commented: “The good thing about Lebanon now is that not only do we have a Censorship Bureau, but even individual political parties are able to enforce censorship as they please, which is really nice, and adds “If you want to do politics and feel threatened, don’t endanger and annoy the people around you. Change where you live. This should be made a law.”

For more of Halwani’s work and masterful calligraphy pieces, visit his Facebook page.