Tense Funeral for Abdul Wahed, Merheb in al-Bireh, Daher Calls for Executing Killers
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Slain clerics Sheikh Ahmed Abdul Wahed and his companion Sheikh Mohammed al-Merheb were laid to rest on Monday in the Akkar town of al-Bireh, amid tensions and intense shooting into the air by gunmen who deployed heavily at the funeral’s site.
Throngs of people gathered in the town to attend the funeral in the afternoon.
"We want a fair trial, and we want the killers of Sheikh Ahmed Abdul Wahed to be executed," Mustaqbal bloc MP Khaled al-Daher said at the funeral.
“Whoever executed the cleric and his aide deserve such a punishment,” said Daher, who stressed that “the residents of Akkar are the backbone of the Lebanese army.”
He noted that “Sheikh Abdul Wahed paid the price for helping the Syrian people.”
Daher stressed that “Syria’s envoy to the U.N. Bashar al-Jaafari’s threat will not intimidate Akkar or Lebanon.”
Addressing President Michel Suleiman, Daher warned that “this government is threatening the Lebanese people’s security.”
He accused Prime Minister Najib Miqati’s government of “isolating and marginalizing the majority of the Lebanese people.”
State commissioner to the military court Judge Saqr Saqr has ordered the arrest of three Lebanese army officers and 19 soldiers who were manning a checkpoint in the Akkar town of al-Kweikhat where Sheikh Abdul Wahed was killed, al-Liwaa daily reported Monday.
Abdul Wahed and his aide Merheb were on their way to attend a rally organized by MP Daher in Halba.
The army said in a communiqué that it deeply regretted the incident and that it would be investigated.
The news of the killing by the army pushed several angry residents to the streets of Akkar villages as protestors cut off roads with burning tires in the northern province, and the road in Naameh and other roads in the Beirut areas of Verdun, Mazraa, Beshara al-Khoury and Qasqas.
The anti-Syria cleric’s death also caused armed clashes between supporters of al-Mustaqbal movement and Arab Movement party near the Beirut Arab University in Tariq al-Jedideh, leaving two dead.
21 May 2012, 21:31
35
We want the culprits punished and we do not want a civil war. Lebanon should not go down with the syrian regime's sinking ship.
21 May 2012, 21:47
01
syria goverment is the devil and the only to defeaat the devil is by good deeds,lebanese good deeds are in being first lebanese and not slave to the syrian regime,
wake up pro syrians in lebanon syria goverment don,t love you they are using you as a tool for the devil
do you want that?
love your country and each other
long live a free lebanon and its diversity is your strenght
may god be with the lebanese and free demcoercy
buhda
21 May 2012, 21:50
35
@ MP Khaled al-Daher, with all due respect, someone in your position should be leading by example by not promoting things like executions and threats to the Premier and President without a proper investigation, collection of evidence and witness testimony. These are very irresponsible stances which only serve to incite sectarian hatred and acts of vigilantism. This is not the way to handles ourselves please, only LAW and ORDER should rain supreme NOT EMOTIONS.
21 May 2012, 23:28
33
Bandoulito sar yefham! Well said amigo! And even if they are found guilty I feel the era of 'executions' is way behind us... We should be a bit more civilized.
I wish you were always like this bandoul, making sense :) bravo!
22 May 2012, 03:09
13
Kint ifham abl ma inta tikhla2. Please don't patronize me just because you think I am defending your Hzb El Kzb and Terror. I am against all zou3ran from all walks of life and make no mistake, your party is a party of zou3ran trying to drag our country into the mud. In any case, the integrity and honorable service of the Lebanese Army is not open to being maligned or tarnished just because one or two soldiers may or may have not acted improperly and may or may have not murdered two innocent people in cold blood. I wasn’t there, I don’t know. Only the legitimate authorities can investigate and hopefully inform us of the truth.
22 May 2012, 02:14
14
I agree with you Bandoul, nobody should be punished without due justice & the language by politicians needs to be restrained....but unfortunately whenever there is an actual investigation it gets covered up by the government or Hizb makes claims that it is politicized (the STL as an example), or Aoun claims that it's illegal....The truth is Syrian is dipping it's fingers back into Lebanon...it is trying to provocate the North so that sectarian strife develops...It is punishing Lebanon for supporting the Syrian people...Whenever arms are smuggled from Lebanon, when they belong to Hizb, then the army is not allowed to approach the truck carrying the arms or any members from Hizb, but if the arms are for the Syrian people to protect themselves then all of a sudden it is Wahabist and terrorists and people get shot!!! What double standards....
22 May 2012, 03:27
13
@lebaneserambo, I sympathize with your point however the reality is this: we are passing in a very delicate period where the Party of God, aka the “Party of Intimidation and Terror” will do anything in its power to direct attention away from Iran’s Nuclear Program/Financial woes and Assad’s imminent fall. If/when Assad falls, the party will be cut off by land from its supplier and will have to smuggle their illegal weapons by air and sea which is a very risqué proposition because these can be easily intercepted. The Party is under orders and immense pressure from Iran to prop up Assad for as long as possible and by any means. This is our reality and if we fall for their tricks and innuendos, we would have facilitated their mission. Our duty is to not take to the streets, not to allow blood to be shed and just let Assad and the Party collapse on their own. Certainly Muslim on Muslim violence is against the Quran but Sunni on Sunni violence is insane and beyond any reasonable excuse.
22 May 2012, 06:25
11
@bandoul.
there is no sunni against sunni going on.
regarding chaker berjaoui, he heads a syrian cell gathering information for them, armed by hizbushaitan and supported by them.
same exists also in the north where hizbushaitan has been arming small factions of extremists.
just thought I would clarify this.
22 May 2012, 03:15
24
@FlameThrower you don't get to address me until you apologize for what you said the other day, you want us to be shot in the head and dissolved in acid. I will never forget that until you apologize and start engaging others who disagree with you in a rational, political manner instead of insults, lies and fabrications. You choose IRAN direction for Lebanon, I choose USA/West direction. You don’t get to call me a Zionist/traitor because I want something different for my home country. Your vision for Lebanon will force me to die of old age hopefully and buried outside of Lebanon whereas my vision allows me the dream I can someday come home and be buried in my family plot.
21 May 2012, 22:15
10
out of the blue, the Lebanese army decided to shoot this innocent clergyman. The car stopped and obeyed orders, yet the army didn't like the way he's dressed. A bit hard to believe.
All these clergymen will bring destruction to lebanon.
21 May 2012, 23:04
01
easy does it. we all must take a step back. MPs, all religious leaders, community leaders and the like must take note to defuse the current situation before it gets out of hand. one Lebanon fo all Lebanese.
21 May 2012, 23:30
42
Allah yse3idna 3al daher! Al he is a leader! shame on us publishing such articles in front of the international community! How can such people lead a country! Spreading hatred and encouraging civil war? Just tell me how!
22 May 2012, 00:57
24
"How can such people lead a country! Spreading hatred and encouraging civil war? Just tell me how!"
just the way FPM and hezb are doing too... he s just imitating
21 May 2012, 23:31
10
Yes, let's promote more medieval age behavior and EXECUTE EVERYONE!!!! Make sure it's a guillotine too. Lebanon and its sects are a joke. The country and its future are doomed until the day we throw religion out the window.
21 May 2012, 23:34
01
Hi all,
I'm a Christina Lebanese, and I think it is about time we bring back capital punishment. Execute whoever killed Sheikh Ahmed Abdul Wahed and his companion Sheikh Mohammed al-Merheb. Why should all Lebanese pay for these tension for the idiots who initiated the killings.
22 May 2012, 00:16
01
What's wrong with my comments? How come they never get posted?
Is it wrong to hate clergymen?
22 May 2012, 00:20
10
Why were they trying to run through the checkpoint? Are they above the law?
22 May 2012, 01:39
02
totally clear that it is an attempt by somebody ( some group or country or whatever) to bring closer the rest of the Sunnis with the small Salafi group. To make a "united Sunni Case" in the country. As it was before this incident, most sunnies were against the salafis. This is an attempt to change that, and changing that would most certainly later lead to a Sunni/Shia clash.
Who will benefit most from this is up to you. My view is that all countries involved will benefit except of Lebanon.
So dont fall for this. Up to you to save your country.
22 May 2012, 09:05
00
I am really disgusted of you all, does any of you all have mirrors honey.If any of you think hi party is better and the rest or the other side is wrong, should not he think first why are we all living in such poverty, have any one noticed that a family provider must gain more than 2000$ a month to provide for his family, did any of your ***** parties tried to do anything about that rather than steeling all what this country have and migrating what left of our youth. Look further than your own noses people, your such pathetic.
