Ibrahim Mousawi

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For other persons named Mousawi, see Musavi (name).

Ibrahim Mousawi (also spelled Moussawi, El-Moussaoui) is a lebanese journalist and Hezbollah proponent.

He was born in 1965 to a family from Baalbek and grew up in the southern suburbs of Beirut.[1] Mousawi is shiite. He has two BAs in Journalism and English literature from the Lebanese University and has worked as a head master at secondary schools.

Mousawi was chief editor of the weekly Hezbollah newspaper al-Intiqad (Criticism)[2] in Beirut. He has been quoted as a Hezbollah spokesman since at least 1998.[3] He joint the Hezbollah TV station Al Manar (the beacon), which aspires not to objective but partisan journalism, and would not include Israeli officials in its broadcasts. According to Mousawi because "It's an enemy state," and "why would you put spokesmen for an enemy state on the air?"[4] He hosted a political talk show and worked as editor-in-chief of foreign news at Al Manar. In an article for the Daily Star in 2002, Mousawi explained the religious basis for suicide attacks in a fatwa of Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah.[5] Mousawi has been reported in the New Yorker magazine as saying that Jews are "a lesion on the forehead of history"[6]. When Al-Manar was banned from French satellite TV for airing a 29-part Ramadan special 'Al-Shatat' (Diaspora) during October-November 2003, which represented charges of Blood libel against Jews and quoted extensively from the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, Mousawi alleged the ban resulted from "political pressure by the Jewish lobby"[7]. He earned his MA in Political Science from the American University of Beirut (AUB) in 2003.

Mousawi rose to prominence during the 2006 Lebanon War as a spokesman for Hezbollah. He said that "pain is the only language that the enemy understands".[8] Following the cessation of hostilities, Mousawi was invited to speak to European audiences in Ireland, Germany[9] and the UK,[10] where he was announced as a Hezbollah spokesman on posters of the Stop the War Coalition.[11]

Mousawi received a PhD in Political Islam from Birmingham University in 2007[12]. The title of his dissertation was "Compatibility between Islam and democracy; Shiism and democracy under Wilayat Al-Faqih, Iran as a case study". He coauthored an article on "Hizbullah's Jihad Concept"[13] and lectures on political science at AUB.[14]

In October 2007, Mousawi was refused entry into Ireland on security grounds following a recommendation from the gardai.[15] The British Conservative Party tried to have Mousawi banned from Britain like Yusuf al-Qaradawi and Moshe Feiglin in February 2008, but failed.[16] Mousawi’s visit has been condemned by Leader David Cameron in the House of Commons and by shadow security minister Baroness Neville-Jones, a former chairwoman of the anti-terror Joint Intelligence Committee.[17]

[edit] References

  1. ^ One mans tussles with the thought police By Kristin Dailey, Daily Star, 17-12-2007
  2. ^ Al Intiqad weekly
  3. ^ in an interview with Al J. Venter “Middle East Mind Games: Interview With Hezbollah,” Soldier Of Fortune, January 1998. p. 63 according to The Political Warfighter Mr. Erik Evans, Small Wars Journal, Feb 2006 - and: Violence escalates along Israel-Lebanon border CNN, December 23, 1998
  4. ^ LEBANESE TV STATION MAKES NO DISGUISE OF ITS HATRED FOR ISRAEL By Jon Sawyer, Post-Dispatch Washington Bureau Chief February 10, 2003
  5. ^ "Fadlallah Explains Religious Basis for Suicide Attacks," Daily Star, June 8, 2002
  6. ^ In the Party of God - Are terrorists in Lebanon preparing for a larger war? Jeffrey Goldberg, The New Yorker on October 14, 2002
  7. ^ France offers 'hate TV' reprieve BBC News 20 August, 2004
  8. ^ A. Hackensberger: »Israel versteht nur die Sprache der Gewalt« Neues Deutschland, August 3, 2006
  9. ^ M100 - Das internationale Medientreffen im Rahmen der Medienwoche Berlin-Brandenburg in Potsdam, 7. September 2007
  10. ^ i.e. Mousawi in Belfast in October 2006 and at the "World Against War international peace conference" in London, December 2007
  11. ^ poster for a public meeting by the Stop the War Coalition on February 28, 2008 at Euston Road, London: in English "Editor of Hizbollah newspaper Al-Intiqad", in Arabic "Editor of Magazine "Intiqad" and spokesperson for Hizbullah"
  12. ^ Prof. Scott Lucas was the examiner of his Ph.D. thesis: A Tale of (British or Lebanese) Extremism: My Friend "The Radical Propagandist" blog Watching America by Professor Scott Lucas, March 3, 2008
  13. ^ Hizbullah’s Jihad Concept by Hilal Khashan (American University of Beirut) and Ibrahim Mousawi (Birmingham University) in: The Journal of Religion and Society Vol. 9 (2007) ISSN 1522-5658
  14. ^ AUB News January 2008
  15. ^ Lebanese TV journalist refused visa for anti-war conference galwayfirst, 14 October 2007
  16. ^ Freedom of Information request: Home Office silent on how Hizbollah man was given entry to UK by Simon Rocker, The Jewish Chronicle 28/03/2008
  17. ^ David Cameron, House of Commons Hansard Debates for 14 Nov 2007, Mr. Amess, Oral Answers House of Commons, Monday 3 December 2007, Lord Strathclyde, House of Lords Hansard text for 19 Mar 2008