Translated article of Omar Nashabe in Al-Akhbar.
Omar Nashabe
1984: It was a rainy day. Four o’clock in the afternoon. No power and gray clouds deprive the city the light of the sky. The car approached an armed checkpoint at one of the streets of Beirut. Bearded man with a machine gun and a walkie-talkie stared at the driver’s eyes for a long time. Silence lasted for minutes in which horror dominated the driver, but he did not tremble. He said: «hello young men» in a timid voice.
- What’s your name, mister?
- Abou Kareem.(the name does not show sect)
- Abou Kareem who?
- Abou Kareem al-Hajj.
- Where are you from? … Hajj Abou Kareem
- Ras Beirut.(sect mixed area)
- mmm … He turned to the back seat as if searching for something. Using a flashlight, pointing it at everything in the car and then at the driver’s face:
- what did you say your name was?
- Abou Kareem. Answers the sixty year old man with a voice barely heard.
- And where are you going? … Abou Kareem.
- To pick up my neighbor’s sons from school.
- mmm …
- School’s here…Nearby.
Armed man shakes his head and bites his lower lip.
«Give me your ID hero».
Old man’s eyebrows go up while he’s looking at the gunman, searching in his rear pocket for the portfolio, not being able to capture it because of his severe trembling. In a second attempt he finally succeeds and pulls it out, while a confused smile appears on his face. He takes out a folded paper which is his identification paper.
«I just want to get the kids boss … only that. I will be back in five minutes I swear » says the driver while giving the paper to armed man.
Gunman stars at the papers for a while. Reads: district and registration number: Beirut 123; name: Adel(the name does not show sect) ; fame: El-Hajj; father’s name: Rami; mother’s name and fame: Samira Najjar (the name does not show sect) ; the place and date of birth: Al-Hamra (sect mixed area) 1932; and when he reaches the sect he read “the password” and echoed it loudly so his colleagues hear it well . They looked at him as if he became a being from another planet, at best estimation, or a beast hiding beneath an old man’s skin.
The armed man turns back taking few steps and start talking with his colleague through the device.
The old man did not hear the sound clearly. He lost his ability to concentrate. Grip the steering wheel and plans his escape, but soon he backs off putting down his hands under his thighs and lifting his shoulders as if suffering from cold. «Excuse me, boss».
Gunman, busy with his communication device, did not answer.
«Mister. Please»
No answer.
Moments later the old man hears the guy say through the device: «Ok Ok, for Salim’s sake we’ll get hundreds of these dogs to bring back his cousin Joseph…don’t worry…reassure his mother ».
The man then called his colleagues at the checkpoint: «go guys pull him out and burn the car».
Abou Kareem closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Gunman opened the car door and calmly held the old man by his white hair and dragged him to a dark room known as the «Guard room» where his hands and feet were tied. With the advent of the first hours of the morning Abou Kareem was taken in the trunk of a car to an unknown location. He remained in the dark, year after year after year … him and Maroun, Youssef, Ali, Tony, Omar, Mohammed and Eli and thousands of others who were taken to the unknown; thanks to the password … They are still in the unknown to this day.
After more than 25 years on the “identity kidnapping”, a circular accepting citizens not stating there sects on the registration paper and the admission of requests to cancel it from the official records and putting «/» in the box of the password behind the disappearance of Abou Kareem was issued by Interior Minister Ziad Baroud.
It must be recalled that on 26 August 1991, law 84 was issued which pardons crimes committed before the date of 28 March 1991, including kidnapping, murder and rape, and the bulldozing of houses, villages and the destruction of private and public property. This means that the gunmen who abducted Abou Karim, Youssef, Maroun, Ali, Tony and Omar, Mohammed and Eli are still free, and we do not know, wether they have repented or would they repeat their offenses today, or would or their children. Anyway, perhaps people might be able, with that circular of the Interior ministry, to escape them by hiding the password.
(All names are aliases)
Tags:
Al-Akhbar,
civil war,
Lebanon,
SectarianismPosted by Handala Guevara on February 16th, 2009 -
One comment so far