RIYADH, 11 November 2003 — A young Lebanese couple’s dream of migrating to Canada was thwarted by Saturday’s suicide bombing in Riyadh.
Nina Nasr Jibran, 26, was killed and her husband Eliyas Jibran has been hospitalized. His condition is reported to be stable after surgery.
Nina was about to leave for Canada but had postponed the trip because some of the documents related to her immigration were yet to be received. Her husband, working as a director in a leading advertising agency, had received all his documents and was waiting for his wife’s papers to come through, according to Ezabel Matta, a relative of Nina’s.
Ezabel told Asharq Al-Awsat, a sister publication of Arab News, the couple had been married about a year ago and Nina was pregnant with their first child. She met Eliyas when he was on a tour of Beirut and visited Nina’s family.
“Nina told me that she was happy in Riyadh and was preparing to leave for Canada as soon as she got her papers. The couple wanted to spend their Christmas and New Year in Beirut,” Ezabel said.
