George Hawi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
George Hawi (1938 – June 21, 2005) was a Lebanese politician and former Lebanese Communist Party secretary. He became a critic of Syrian influence in Lebanon late in his life, co-founding, with Elias Atallah, the leftist Lebanese Democratic Movement, an anti-Syrian political movement. Samir Kassir was a prominent member of this group.
Assassination
George Hawi was killed June 21, 2005 in Beirut, when a bomb hidden under the passenger's seat of his car exploded. He became the third highly visible anti-Syrian figure to be assassinated in 2005, with the earlier deaths of Samir Kassir and former Prime Minister of Lebanon Rafik Hariri. Hawi's death occured at the end of the 2005 Lebanese general election—the first election since the end of the Syrian presence in Lebanon;in which a group of opposition candidates led by Saad Hariri, son of the former prime minister, won a majority of seats in Parliament.
His death was widely blamed on Syrian-backed intelligence forces operating in Lebanon. Hawi's stepson, Rafi Madoyan, claimed, "Those who killed him are the same as those who killed Rafiq Hariri and Samir Kassir, it’s the security regime that is in power." United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also seemed to obliquely refer to the assassination in remarks calling upon the Syrian government to "knock it off" in regards to alleged interference with Lebanese politics. The Syrian government has denied any involvement in the incident.
Related articles
References
- Ghattas, Kim: "Rice accuses Syria of adding to Lebanon’s instability (http://news.ft.com/cms/s/e5633a7e-e240-11d9-84c5-00000e2511c8.html)", Financial Times, (June 21, 2005)
- Karam, Zeina: "Anti-Syrian Critic Killed in Lebanon Blast (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050621/ap_on_re_mi_ea/lebanon_explosion)", Associated Press, (June 21, 2005)
- Noueihed, Lin: "Anti-Syrian politician assassinated in Beirut (http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2005-06-21T174538Z_01_N21476335_RTRIDST_0_INTERNATIONAL-LEBANON-DC.XML)", Reuters, (June 21, 2005)
- "Blast kills Lebanese politician (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4113898.stm)", BBC News, (June 21, 2005)
- "Bomb kills anti-Syria politician (http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/06/21/lebanon.blast/index.html)", CNN, (June 21, 2005)
