Lebanon: Journalist attacked by suspected Hezbollah members

Lebanese journalist Rami Naim was attacked by around twenty armed men while he was in a cafe with another person in broad daylight in the predominantly Sunni district of Verdun, west of the Lebanese capital Beirut. This was reported by the same journalist known for his positions against Hezbollah, who posted a video on the information site “Assiyassa” accusing members of the pro-Iranian Shiite party of the attack. “This is a clear assassination attempt in broad daylight in Verdun,” Naim said. “The main crime I committed was taking a stand against Hezbollah. In Lebanon, having an opinion is a crime,” continued the journalist, who said he was “brutally attacked and beaten with a weapon.” “I had a gun pointed at my head and my friend had a gun pointed at his stomach while passersby watched,” the reporter explained, adding: “I was told: ‘We will kill anyone who talks about Hezbollah.'” According to Lebanese broadcaster MTV, Prime Minister Najib Miqati has asked Justice Minister Henri Khoury to look into the case.

On April 13, Naim was briefly detained after speaking on a radio program about the “double standards of the security forces between people close to Hezbollah and its critics” and calling for “disobedience” towards the security forces. “If the security forces make a mistake in the area where I am, we will shoot them and the Lebanese army,” the reporter declared, before apologizing for his statements two days later. Several journalists critical of Hezbollah have been intimidated or attacked in recent years. In February 2021, writer, publisher and intellectual Lokman Slim, a fierce opponent of the Islamist group, was found dead in southern Lebanon, but authorities were never able to establish any involvement of the “Party of God” in his killing. In August 2022, something similar to Naim happened to photojournalist Hassan Chaabane: he claimed to have been attacked by a group of suspected Hezbollah supporters after posting videos and messages on social networks about a demonstration against water shortages organized by a group of residents of Beit Yahoun in southern Lebanon.

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