Antoine Ghanem
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Antoine Ghanem (Arabic: أنطوان غانم) (August 10, 1943 – September 19, 2007) was a Lebanese politician and an MP in the Lebanese Parliament. He was also a member of the Kataeb party and the March 14 Coalition. He was killed on September 19, 2007 in a car bomb explosion in the Sin al-Fil suburb of Beirut.[1][2] His death came just two days after he returned from abroad where he had sought refuge from such political violence.
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[edit] Background
Ghanem was born in the Tohwita suburb of Beirut. He attended the Collège Notre Dame in Furn el-Chebek and the Collège du Sacré-Coeur in Gemmayzeh, both private Catholic schools. After earning a degree in law from the Université Saint-Joseph in Beirut and the University of Lyon, he taught law for several years at the Lebanese University. He joined the Kataeb Party in 1961 and later became head of its Baabda district.
[edit] Political career
In 2000, he was elected to the Lebanese Parliament for Baabda-Aley constituency, running on the list of Druze leader Walid Jumblat. A member of the block of the "democratic Meeting" Qornet Chehwan Gathering, he enjoyed nevertheless a certain autonomy considering his membership of the Kataeb Party. He supported Gemayel in the political struggle within the Kataeb Party, countered the pro-Syrian president of the party Karim Pakradouni and posted himself as an important speaker within the reforming Movement of the Kataeb Party directed by Gemayel.
In September 2004, he voted against the extension of President Émile Lahoud's term. He actively participated in the Cedar Revolution after the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri.
He was re-elected in 2005 to his post of deputy and seat to the political council of the Kataeb Party, after the reunification of this party and the reconciliation between Amine Gemayel and Karim Pakradouni.
[edit] Assassination
Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Seyassah reported that the Ghanem assassination was a direct result of Syria re-opening its borders[3] with Lebanon on September 17, 2 days before the assassination took place.[4]
According to Al-Seyassah's sources inside Syria, the assassination was performed by Syrian intelligence, who continuously monitored Ghanem's movements. The agents rented two apartments, one near the residence of Ghanem in Qlei'at and the other near the crime scene in Sin el Fil. The sources revealed that the killers left Lebanon immediately after the assassination, completely disguised as Syrian workers.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Blast hits Christian suburb in Lebanon, kills 4, USA Today, September 19, 2007.
- ^ Lebanese MP 'killed in bombing', BBC News, September 19, 2007
- ^ Syria reopens 2 border crossings with northern Lebanon, Ya Libnan, September 18, 2007
- ^ Syrian plot to kill Lebanon's MP Ghanem exposed, Ya Libnan, September 27, 2007
