Diplomats call for probe after Hizbollah critic killed in Lebanon

Lebanese protesters in Beirut hold pictures of slain activist Lukman Slim

Credit: AFP

A prominent Lebanese critic of the militant Shiite group Hizbollah was shot dead in south Lebanon on Thursday, prompting diplomats to call for a transparent investigation.

Lukman Slim was found dead in his car after he was reported missing on Wednesday night, with security forces saying he had been shot repeatedly in the head and back. 

Slim, who was in his late 50s, was a leading secular Shiite voice who had previously received death threats for his criticism of Hizbollah, which the UK and other countries consider a terrorist organisation. 

While security officials said the motive remained unclear, his sister suggested he had been murdered because of his opposition to the Iran-backed group, which is the only Lebanese party to maintain a militia.

Slim, who ran a research centre and was a leading voice on Lebanese history, had previously accused Hizbollah of intimidation and attempting to monopolise the country’s politics.

The UK’s Chargé d’Affaires in Lebanon, Martin Longden, demanded an investigation, a call echoed by Amnesty International, a top United Nations diplomat and the European Union ambassador to Lebanon.

“The authorities must conduct a swift and transparent investigation and find those responsible,” said Mr Longden. “I will follow this issue very closely. All voices in Lebanon, including of critics, must be protected. No impunity.”

In the family’s south Beirut home, his sister Rasha al-Ameer told reporters that "killing is the only language they are fluent in," without naming Hizbollah. 

"They lost a noble enemy too,” she said. “It’s rare for someone to argue with them and live among them with respect." 

The killing came six months to the day after the Beirut port explosion, which Slim told Saudi Arabia’s al-Hadath TV last month that he suspected Syria and Hizbollah had a role in, which the group has denied. 

His murder was the first such political killing in years, though the country was once plagued by assassinations of high profile figures who spoke out against Hizbollah and its ally Syria. 

Former prime minister and Sunni leader Rafik Hariri was killed in a massive car bomb in Beirut in 2005. Outrage over his killing forced Syria to withdraw its forces from Lebanon, where they had been stationed since the civil war. 

In August, a special tribunal in the Netherlands found a Hizbollah operative guilty of involvement in the plot to kill Hariri. Salim Ayyash was later sentenced in absentia to five terms of life imprisonment, though his whereabouts remains unknown.

President Michel Aoun, a political ally of the group, said he had ordered an investigation.

Hizbollah has not responded to requests for comment on Slim’s death.