Nasib Al Matni (Arabic: نسيب المتني; 1910–1958) was a Lebanese journalist who was assassinated on 8 May 1958. He established several publications and edited various newspapers. His assassination triggered the events which led to a political crisis in Lebanon.[1] The murder of Al Matni is one of the unsolved cases in Lebanon.[2][3]
Nasib Al Matni | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1910 |
| Died | 8 May 1958 (aged 47–48) Beirut |
| Cause of death | Assassination |
| Nationality | Lebanese |
| Occupation | Journalist |
| Known for |
|
Biography
editAl Matni was born in 1910.[4] He descended from a Maronite family.[5][6]
Al Matni was the president of the Lebanese Press Federation.[7] During the presidency of Bechara El Khoury he was one of the leading dissidents in Lebanon.[2] Al Matni was arrested in 1952 and tried which was protested through a three-day strike.[2] He was also a critic of the President Camille Chamoun and held pro-Nasserist views supporting the United Arab Republic.[5][8] Al Matni was close to the National Union Front which was established before the general election of June 1957.[9] The members of the group were all opponents of Camille Chamoun and were mostly Muslims.[9]
Al Matni and the editor of the Communist newspaper Al Shaab were briefly arrested on 22 July 1957 following the general election.[10] They called for President Chamoun's impeachment if there were fraudulent practices in the electoral process.[10]
Assassination
editAl Matni was assassinated in his office in West Beirut in the early hours on 8 May 1958.[5][6][10] During the incident he was the owner and editor-in-chief of The Telegraph[2][11] which was supported by the Sunni opposition in Lebanon.[5] The paper was a leftist and pan-Arabist daily publication[12] which criticized the policies of President Chamoun.[4] The Telegraph became the mouthpiece of the National Union Front before the 1957 general election against Chamoun.[9]
In his last editorial published in the paper Al Matni repeated his call for the resignation of President Chamoun and added:[13]
Lebanon's interests, Lebanon's eternal independence, and the interest of the people make it essential for the individual to sacrifice himself for the benefit of the whole.
The officials claimed that his killing was not due to a political reason, but the opposition figures argued that he was killed due to his anti-Chamoun stance.[5] Because following his assassination numerous threatening letters were found which asked him to stop his criticisms against President Chamoun.[4]
Aftermath
editAfter his assassination Kamal Jumblatt and other opposition leaders asked the Lebanese people to organize a general strike[14] which led to large-scale protests in Beirut and Tripoli.[5] The libraries of the United States Information Agency were burned by the demonstrators in both cities on 10 May.[10] The protests took place on the day of Al Matni's funeral in Akkar, Miniyeh, Chouf, Biqa and Sidon.[11] These demonstrations soon expanded to other Lebanese cities.[15] Muslims, Druzes and those Christians who opposed to President Chamoun participated in these protests which lasted between 9 May and 14 October 1958.[15][16] During these events nearly 3,000 people died.[15]
Several media outlets blamed President Chamoun and the Syrian Social Nationalist Party for the murder of Al Matni.[4] Al Amal, official organ of the Kataeb Party, reported that Al Matni was the father of jihad and that the state should arrest the murderers.[4] Al Anbaa, media outlet of the Progressive Socialist Party, and An Nahar also demanded the arrest of the perpetrators.[4]
References
edit- ^ Jack Shulimson (1966). "Marines in Lebanon 1958" (Technical report). Washington, D.C.: Defense Technical Information Center. p. 4.
- ^ a b c d Tammam Hanaydi (5 June 2015). "[Translated] The Press and Despotism on the Anniversary of Samir Kassir's Assassination". Terjama. Archived from the original on 25 February 2021. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
- ^ Jawad Adra (1 March 2013). "الاغتيالات في لبنان والفاعل لا زال مجهولاً". Monthly Magazine (in Arabic). Retrieved 29 January 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f Dylan Baun (2020). Winning Lebanon: Youth Politics, Populism, and the Production of Sectarian Violence, 1920–1958. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 158. ISBN 978-1-108-49152-5.
- ^ a b c d e f K. S. (September 1958). "The Lebanese Crisis in Perspective". The World Today. 14 (9): 369–380. JSTOR 40393919.
- ^ a b Are Knudsen (2010). "Acquiescence to Assassinations in Post-Civil War Lebanon?". Mediterranean Politics. 15 (1): 3. doi:10.1080/13629391003644611. S2CID 154792218.
- ^ Jens Hanssen; Hicham Safieddine (Spring 2016). "Lebanon's al-Akhbar and Radical Press Culture: Toward an Intellectual History of the Contemporary Arab Left". The Arab Studies Journal. 24 (1): 201. JSTOR 44746852.
- ^ Bruce Riedel (2019). Beirut 1958: How America's Wars in the Middle East Began. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press. p. 62. ISBN 9780815737353. JSTOR 10.7864/j.ctvbj7g2w.
- ^ a b c Borja W. González Fernández (2018). Ta'ifah or nation? The lebanese maronite community in the twentieth century, 1918-1975 (PhD thesis). Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. pp. 293–294, 302. Archived from the original on 23 December 2021.
- ^ a b c d Caroline Camille Attie (1996). Lebanon in the 1950s: President Chamoun and Western policy in Lebanon (PhD thesis). University of Texas at Austin. pp. 141, 192–193. ISBN 9798691260339. ProQuest 304273708.
- ^ a b Fawwaz Traboulsi (2012). A History of Modern Lebanon (2nd ed.). London: Pluto Press. p. 135. doi:10.2307/j.ctt183p4f5. ISBN 9780745332741. JSTOR j.ctt183p4f5.
- ^ Karol R. Sorby (2000). "Lebanon: The Crisis of 1958". Asian and African Studies. 9 (1): 95.
- ^ Maurice M. Labelle Jr. (2013). "A New Age of Empire? Arab 'Anti-Americanism', US Intervention, and the Lebanese Civil War of 1958". The International History Review. 35 (1): 49. doi:10.1080/07075332.2012.707134. S2CID 154926637.
- ^ Carl C. Yonker (2021). The Rise and Fall of Greater Syria A Political History of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party. Berlin; Boston: De Gruyter. p. 247. doi:10.1515/9783110729092-005. ISBN 9783110729092. S2CID 242711638.
- ^ a b c Juan Romero (2012). "Discourse and Mediation in the Lebanese Crisis of 1958". Middle Eastern Studies. 48 (4): 570. doi:10.1080/00263206.2012.682300. S2CID 144184045.
- ^ Syed Rifaat Hussain (Summer 1990). "The American Intervention in the Middle East: Case Study of Lebanon (1958)". Strategic Studies. 13 (4): 39–60. JSTOR 45182031.