Daily Star - Top Lebanese officials condemn Ketermaya lynching, May 1, 2010

BEIRUT: Senior Lebanese officials are promising a crackdown after Thursday’s gruesome public lynching of a suspected murderer shocked the public and angered the Egyptian Embassy.
President Michel Sleiman strongly denounced the killing of an Egyptian national, Mohammad Salim Msallem, by an angry mob in the Chouf town of Ketermaya, and tasked Interior Minister Ziyad Baroud and Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar with ensuring that the perpetrators were punished.
Msallem was butchered by locals in the town while in policy custody, and his corpse hung on an electricity pole as dozens of people looked on.
Msallem was suspected of murdering four members of the same family: Youssef Abu Merhi, his wife Kawthar and their two granddaughters Amina and Zeina, 7 and 9 respectively.
“Despite the ugliness of the crime the suspect had committed,” Sleiman said, “and bearing in mind that security personnel arrested him in under 24 hours [after the murders], the behavior we saw harms Lebanon’s image, especially since the state didn’t fail to reveal the identity of the suspect,” he said.
The Internal Security Forces (ISF) arrested Msallem after raiding his home in Ketermaya. The suspect confessed he committed the murders and he was taken back to the crime scene, to the Abu Merhi home, to re-enact the killing of the four victims.
However, an angry mob broke into the house and killed Msallem using knives and sticks while he was still restrained. His lifeless body was then tied to a car and dragged through the street, before they stripped him to his underwear and hanged him from an electricity pole using a butcher’s hook.
For its part, the Egyptian Embassy in Beirut denounced Msallem’s murder “even though he was in the hands of justice.”
Najjar strongly criticized the vigilantes and told a local television station “no matter how deep the pain of the villagers, nothing in the world can legally justify the collective reaction, which will harm Lebanon’s image and undermine the role of judicial and security authorities and of the law.”
He expressed his sympathy to the victims’ families and to the villagers but said seeking personal justice was unacceptable and the murder of Msallem was “as dangerous and as barbaric as the acts that preceded it.”
Najjar declared judicial authorities had the names of 10 people involved in Msallem’s murder and said he’d discussed the matter with the president and the concerned legal authorities, particularly public prosecutors. “Everyone agrees the perpetrators should be prosecuted,” he added.
Public Prosecutor Said Mirza confirmed that judicial authorities had received the names of 10 people implicated in the butchery. The suspects were recognized after video footage of the crime aired on television stations and Mirza said investigations were ongoing to identify the remaining suspects.
He also asked the Mount Lebanon prosecutor’s office, the prosecutor’s office at the Military Tribunal and the Judicial Police to take immediate action.
For his part, Baroud condemned their actions and urged swift punishment for those involved, especially since Msallem was only a suspect and had not yet been indicted. He warned the incident would tarnish Lebanon’s image.
“What if the suspect had not been the perpetrator? What if someone instigated him?” Baroud asked, adding that the preliminary investigations were being kept secret for the time being.
But the ISF announced Friday that Msallem was the likely culprit in the quadruple murder, following the results of DNA tests.
The tests compared DNA taken from a blood-covered T-shirt found in Msallem’s home to the blood of one of the victims, the grandmother. Forensic personnel also matched the blood on a knife confiscated from Msallem to the blood of 9-year-old victim Zeina. Sweat belonging to the suspect was also found on the knife.
Baroud praised the achievement of the ISF in detaining the suspect 24 hours after the murder but he condemned their failure in managing the situation thereafter. “The ISF made a mistake while leading the suspect to the crime scene,” he said.
The commander of the ISF, General Ashraf Rifi, also criticized the security break-down and announced that disciplinary measures had been taken against a number of ISF personnel for their “crucial mistake in underestimating the situation and not providing necessary and sufficient protection for the suspect.”
Rifi issued a statement in which he admitted the situation was underestimated and the ISF did not expect the consequences. He also reminded all ISF members of their legal, professional and humane duty to protect any criminal or suspect when arrested no matter the nature of his crime. He demanded as well that they learn from their mistakes in order to improve in the future.
According to security sources, very firm measures are usually taken during the re-enactment of a crime: the site is isolated and no one is allowed inside, even the victim’s family, unless they have a judicial order. Tough security measures are also taken when escorting the suspect to and from the site in order to prevent him from escaping, or attempting to commit suicide.
The leading political party in the Chouf, the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), called for launching investigations to determine which government body was responsible for the negligence, especially since the suspect was in the custody of the ISF.
It issued a statement condemning the crime and warning of turning the incident into a racial incident, “as there is a large number of Arab and foreign workers in Lebanon.”
According to the National News Agency, Msallem was an Egyptian national who had committed many crimes in his country. He arrived in Lebanon illegally, where he earlier assaulted a 15-year-old girl. – The Daily Star


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