BEIRUT: Al-Jadeed TV cameraman Ali
Shaaban was killed Monday at a border crossing in the area of Wadi Khaled,
north Lebanon, security sources said. Al-Jadeed blamed the Syrian army for the
incident.
The TV crew was reporting from Khat
Naft in the Wadi Khaled area when their vehicle was shot at as it neared the
Syrian border town of Armouta
Shaaban, a 32-year-old assistant
cameraman, was shot in the chest and transferred to a nearby hospital where he
was later pronounced dead.
Prime Minister Najib Mikati, whose
Twitter account was flooded with messages from people asking the government for
immediate action, said he would ask the Syrian government to investigate the
shooting and hold the attackers accountable.
“We will inform the Syrian side of
our condemnation of this act which we reject act and our demand that the attack
be investigated and that the perpetrators be held to account,” Mikati said in a
statement.
“We deplore and condemn the shooting
from the Syrian side on the Lebanese media crew, particularly that this crew
was doing its duty inside the Lebanese border area and I have asked the
leadership of the Lebanese Army to open an immediate investigation into this
matter to reveal the circumstances,” the prime minister, who is abroad on
vacation, said.
Mikati also offered his condolences
to Al-Jadeed and the CEO of the media company Tahseen Khayyat.
Interior Minister Marwan Charbel
said Monday that a probe into the attack has been launched in order to uncover
the circumstances behind the killing of Shaaban.
“An investigation is under way by
security forces and the testimonies of the two journalists who were with
[Shaaban] were taken,” Charbel told The Daily Star.
“A Lebanese citizen and journalist
was killed on the border and it is a very sad thing, especially that he was
shot at [despite being] unarmed,” he added.
Asked about the reason behind the
delay of the Lebanese army’s arrival at the scene, Charbel said: “Apparently,
there were no army personnel in that area but the army is heavily deployed
closer to the Lebanese border.”
Charbel also expressed bafflement as
to why gunshots would be fired in the direction of the journalists since they
were in contact with the Syrian army on the other side of the border.
The security sources said that
Al-Jadeed lost communication with its team at around 3:30 p.m.
Hours after the incident, Al-Jadeed
reporter Hussein Khreis said the crew was inside Lebanese territory when
gunshots began raining down on them.
“We were on the Lebanese side and we
even waved to the Syrian army on the border and then we heard heavy gunfire and
tried to rush back but the gunshots came like rain,” Khreis told Al-Jadeed in
Qobayat in front of al-Salam Hospital where Shaaban was taken.
Khreis also said that he and
cameraman Abed al-Azim Khayyat were not able to pull Shaaban out of the car and
had to crawl away under fire without him.
Khreis added that Khayyat tried to
pull Shaaban from the car but failed due to heavy gunfire.
“I ask Shaaban’s family to forgive
me because I couldn’t do anything,” Khreis said tearfully, adding that
residents of Wadi Khaled rushed him and Khayyat to a safe place.
Khayyat was so distraught that he
initially found himself unable to speak when questioned by reporters.
Khreis said that “the fire came from
the Syrian side but ... I could not verify who [was responsible],” and asked the
Lebanese government to declare the area a military zone in order to prevent a
recurrence of incidents of this nature.
Shaaban’s body was taken to the
hospital after three hours.
Hours after Shaaban's death, former
Prime Minister Saad Hariri denounced his killing, describing it as "an
assault on Lebanese sovereignty" and holding the Lebanese Government
responsible for the attack.
"[Hariri] held the Lebanese
government responsible for turning a blind eye to the series of attacks and
intrusions which the Syrian forces have carried out against Lebanese
territories for months, and [said the government] has yet to take the measures
or procedures necessary to put a final end to them and prevent their
recurrence,” the statement said.
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea
also condemned the attack and stressed the need to launch an investigation into
the case to uncover the ambiguities surrounding it.
He also urged the government to
control the Lebanese-Syrian border and, most importantly, to protect freedoms
and journalists.
In the statement, Geagea addressed
Al-Jadeed on behalf of the LF, calling on the station's employees “not to allow
this heinous assassination to deter them from their struggle for the defense of
freedom and objectivity.”
“The Photographers' Syndicate
condemns the criminal assault on a colleague at Al-Jadeed and calls on all
parties and sides not to attack any media persons regardless of the [outlet]
they belong to,” a statement by the syndicate said.
A Syrian source told a local TV
channel that authorities were investigating the circumstances surrounding the
attack and the identity of those who fired at the Al-Jadeed crew.
Human Rights Watch deputy director
for Middle East/North Africa, Nadim Houry, said the most important thing was
the establishment of a “transparent and credible” investigation into the
killing of the cameraman.
In a telephone interview with The
Daily Star, Houry said: “The [Lebanese] government needs to push the Syrian
authority to provide answers and explanations into the shooting and hold
someone accountable.”
He also said that the attack should not be
turned in a political issue to be bickered over by the March 8 and March 14
coalitions, adding that the Lebanese government should provide protection and
ensure the safety of journalists in dangerous areas.
No comments:
Post a Comment