BEIRUT: A prominent Lebanese Shi’ite Muslim publisher who criticized the armed Hezbollah movement was shot dead in a car in southern Lebanon on Thursday, the first such killing of a high-profile activist in years.
A judge following the case said the body of Lokman Slim had four bullets in the head and one in the back. One of the security sources said his phone was found on the side of a road.
They said the motive remained unclear.
Slim, who was in his late 50s, ran a research centre, made documentaries with his wife and led efforts to build an archive on Lebanon’s 1975-1990 sectarian civil war.
He spoke against what he described as the Iran-backed, Shi’ite Hezbollah’s intimidation tactics and attempts to monopolise Lebanese politics, accusing it of intolerance of other views.
His sister suggested Slim was murdered because of this. He was last seen after visiting a poet friend. His wife said he went missing overnight and did not answer his phone.
Hezbollah did not respond to a…