GEBRAN TUENI, FOR FREEDOM


TO THE LEBANESE SKY-HIGH CEDAR
TO THE ABSOLUTELY-FREE PHOENIX
TO THE EVER-ALIVE HERO

GEBRAN TUENI

WE WILL STAY THE COURSE,
YOUR COURSE AND YOUR WAY

THE FREE SYRIANS WHO STILL
MOURN YOU AND MISS YOU
12-12-2006

------------------------------

First Anniversary of Tueni's Murder: Honors and Praise

Naharnet, 10 Dec 06

The editor-in-chief of the Yemen Times Nadia Al-Saqqaf was on Sunday awarded the 2006 Gebran Tueni prize on the occasion of the first anniversary of An Nahar General Manger's assassination.

Al-Saqqaf, who is the first woman ever to be appointed an editor in Yemen, received the award Sunday during the opening ceremony of the "Press Under Siege" conference at the Beirut International Exhibition and Leisure Center (BIEL).

The new prize from the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) aims at honoring an editor or publisher from the Arab region.

More than 5,000 people, including journalists, Tueni's family members and friends, and politicians attended the ceremony, a small distance away from the scene of an ongoing sit-in by anti-government protestors.

Sunday's ceremony went ahead despite heavy security in downtown Beirut ahead of a mass Hizbullah-led demonstration aimed at toppling Premier Fouad Saniora.

The prize honors the memory of Gebran Tueni, An Nahar's General Manager, legislator and WAN Board Member who was killed in a car bombing in the Beirut suburb of Mkalles on December 12, 2005.

WAN said that Saqqaf received the prize because she demonstrated the values incarnated in Tueni: attachment to freedom of the press, courage, leadership, ambition, and high managerial and professional standards.

The award carries a 10,000 Euro scholarship to enable Saqqaf to undertake advanced newspaper leadership training by An Nahar's training institute.

The ceremony included a documentary film about Tueni and speeches by world renowned journalists and artists who praised the late An Nahar general manager.

Tueni's daughter Nayla, who is also Lebanon's leading newspaper's assistant general manager, made a speech urging for the continuation of the Cedar Revolution and rejecting the toppling of Saniora's government.

She called on President Emile Lahoud to resign his post.

The dean of the Lebanese press Ghassan Tueni during his speech urged for a pact of honor that prevents media instigation.

Saniora also made a speech from the Grand Serail that was broadcast live to the conference at BIEL.

The prime minister vowed his government would overcome the challenge posed by opposition protesters.

"Lebanon is a strong country. We will overcome this crisis," Saniora said.

He also played down the country's deepening divisions, saying there "is no divorce between the Lebanese" and reiterating his call for talks between the bickering parties.


Popular posts from this blog

Israel's Strategy in Syria: From Enabling Iran to Strategic Loss

Image
Seven months ago, I wrote about the failure of the Israeli policy in Syria, which poses Israel as a main regional loser in the aftermath of the war in Syria. This article has been followed by other articles describing the following changing balance in the Middle East between Israel and Iran to the benefit of Iran and the role of Israeli policies and its traditional strategy and means toward its regional strategic loss. Meanwhile, the Israeli government and intelligence establishment were in quite different place claiming even achievements in Syria as regards Iran's entrenchment there. The academia and research institutions were in-between. Recently, it came to my attention this article by Ehud Yaari, which is the ever best Israeli analysis I have read in months. Finally, there is some scholar in Israel has the realistic and true assessment of the situation in Syria and the Israeli policy there along with the strategic conclusion. This is definitely a useful work, as th
Read more

Gambling on the Warhead, Iran Gets the Requisite Missile

Image
It seems that the mainstream media follows the course of their governments in their coverage of political and other related developments. As the US Democrat administrations with many other European governments usually incline to practically overlook the Iranian ballistic missile program and its deployment, the mainstream media also is impacted by this inclination. This is indicated by the light and deficient coverage of the recent Iran's unveiling of the fourth generation of its Khorramshahr ballistic missile with a range of 2,000 km (1,243 miles) and a 1,500 kg (3,300 lb) warhead as reported by the official IRNA news agency.  Iran named it Khaybar in reference to famous Islamic anti-jewish battle alongside a replica of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the live broadcast of the state television. As usual, Iran directs its rhetoric against Israel and does not miss any show of its power in this regard . This is an official Iranian tradition and an essential pillar of the ideology o
Read more

Netherlands and Canada's ICJ Torture Case Against Syria: A New Era of International Indictment of Sovereign Governments' National Crimes

Image
Netherlands' torture and other ill-treatment case against Syria at the International Court of Justice opens a new chapter in the international order and practice. Although our previous experience with the international order and the international institutions, especially in the Syrian crisis, lets almost no room for any expectations for this case to end torture in Syria or to achieve any difference in the course of action of the Syrian regime, it definitely can lay the foundation for this end by the international documentation, indictment and recognition of these domestic crimes.   In general, this unprecedented ICJ case has a particular international importance as It has a real chance to prompt a beginning of some international system development in terms of the international responsibility and role concerning ill-governance, which is generally fenced by the norm of sovereignty, especially in terms of systematic practice of torture and other kindes of ill-treatment by
Read more