BEIRUT, 4 June 2005 — Lebanon’s opposition urged yesterday pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud to resign after the murder of an anti-Syrian journalist, bitterly pinning the blame for the crime on Damascus and its allies in Beirut. The killing of Samir Kassir, praised by the media as the “martyr of the free word”, in a Beirut bomb blast revived anger with the regime first unleashed by the February assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
Raising black pens printed with Kassir’s name, hundreds of grieving journalists stood in silence yesterday in Martyrs’ Square in downtown Beirut to protest his assassination which triggered international condemnation. The United Nations is probing Hariri’s assassination, which was also blamed on Lebanese and Syrian security services and had pushed Syria to end its 29-year military presence in Lebanon in April.
Brushing off calls for his departure, Lahoud received yesterday the head of the UN team probing Hariri’s murder, top German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis, and asked for an extension of the investigation into Kassir’s killing.
But diplomatic sources told AFP that such a measure was not possible, unless Lebanon presents an official request to UN chief Kofi Annan who would then submit it to the Security Council for approval.
Opposition leader MP Nassib Lahoud said “the responsibility falls on this security regime headed by Emile Lahoud, and we have asked for his resignation, as our battle is not over yet and it is a decisive battle.” “It is true that some of the security chiefs have been removed after the assassination of Rafik Hariri, but its apparatus has not been dismantled,” said an editorial in An-Nahar daily, where Kassir was a prominent columnist.
“And the head of this (security) regime remains in the presidency after his term in office was extended (under Syrian pressure) against the will of the people and unconstitutionally,” it said. After an urgent meeting late Thursday, the opposition “demanded by democratic means the resignation of the president as he is the effective leader of the security intelligence regime.”
“Once again the hand of terrorism, under the protection of the president and the joint Lebanese-Syrian intelligence agencies and what is left of the regime, targets a symbol of the free press,” said an opposition statement.
