BEIRUT: Lebanon Wednesday mourned the death of Ghazi Aad, founder of the Support of Lebanese in Detention and Exile group. President
Michel Aoun said that Aad “will remain present for defending the rights
of every human being and his struggle for those who are missing. “Ghazi will remain a role model and a motivator for the message to go on,” Aoun said.

Thousands
of people went missing during the 1975-1990 Civil War, many of whom are
believed to be imprisoned in Syria, while others are likely buried in
mass graves throughout Lebanon. Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri contacted Aad’s family to offer his condolences.

Caretaker
Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil tweeted that the case “will not be
dismissed with your departure… Uncovering the fate [of the missing
Lebanese] will remain in our minds, memories and [be one of our]
demands.” “As long as we’re alive, we will not deter from
following up on the case of detainees in Syrian prisons,” Lebanese
Forces leader Samir Geagea said. Caretaker Economy Minister Alain
Hakim tweeted: “Ghazi Aad, your departure will not silence your voice
and that of the mothers in the case of the abductees.”

Aad was hospitalized in late October and had been in a coma up until his death earlier this morning.

A
commission, which was formed by the government of former Prime Minister
Salim al-Hoss to investigate the fate of the missing, issued its final
report in July 2000.

It said that none of the disappeared or
missing had been found alive in Lebanon, and added that several mass
graves were present across the Lebanese territory.