BEIRUT: Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai asked religious
institutions to avoid employing non-Christian foreign labor to prevent a repeat
of the events of last week in which a 28-year old woman was murdered by a
Syrian national working in a church in Sahel Alma.
“We ask officials of monasteries, religious Christian
institutions, in a bid to preserve their sanctity, inviolability and message,
not to entrust their protection to non-Christian foreigners or house them,” Rai
told a Mass in Bkirki in honor of Myriam Ashkar, killed last week by Fathi Jabr
al-Salateen, a janitor at the church Ashkar was visiting, after he attempted to
rape her.
Ashkar, whose body was recovered after a day-long search and
rescue operation by the army and Internal Security Forces, was stabbed at least
eight times in her chest and suffered other injuries
Salateen, who has confessed to the crime, is also suspected of
having been a member in a Syrian intelligence unit in Lebanon and having quit
his post several years ago, sources told The Daily Star.
“We ask security and judicial officials to protect Lebanese and
to apply the most severe form of punishment upon the criminal,” Rai said to the
crowd, which included Ashkar’s family members and Interior Minister Marwan
Charbel.
He also asked the Internal Security Forces to take good care of
the security of citizens and protect them against any threats.
The patriarch also asked unions and workers to implement
necessary laws governing foreign labor, voicing appreciation for foreigners who
are genuinely working in the country.
Rai also touched upon the controversial issue of funding the
Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which is scheduled to be discussed in Cabinet
Wednesday.
“We regret that there is reluctance to comply with international
legitimacy especially concerning the Special Tribunal for Lebanon,” Rai said,
warning of repercussions for Lebanon if Cabinet fails to pay the country’s $36
million share of the court’s annual budget.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2011/Nov-27/155326-rai-asks-church-officials-not-to-employ-non-christian-foreign-labor.ashx#axzz1f27PhNtx
No comments:
Post a Comment