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Discovery of second mass grave raises questions
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BEIRUT, 6 December (IRIN) – Following the discovery of the second mass grave in Lebanon within a month, international watchdog Amnesty International urged the Lebanese government to take immediate action to ensure that evidence at grave sites was properly preserved."Amnesty International has received reports that the exhumations of bodies in mass graves are not being carried out with the appropriate level of care," the rights group stated on Monday. "There are fears that bodies may be damaged and potential evidence lost."

In November, 21 corpses were unearthed near the Lebanese Defense Ministry in nearby Yarze, including the bodies of 17 soldiers and four civilians. Excavations of another site suspected of containing mass graves, Deir al-Qalaa in Mount Lebanon, began a week ago. On 2 December, Lebanese security forces were joined by a committee of three coroners appointed by the state prosecutor to exhume another site in the Beqaa Valley town of Anjar, located some 58 km from the capital Beirut.

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Government, NGOs cooperate on issue of gender violence
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BEIRUT, 5 Dec 2005 (IRIN) – Government ministries and civil society groups in the capital Beirut are collaborating for the first time to tackle the issue of violence against women, the open discussion of which is still considered taboo in some segments of Lebanese society.Falling under the international

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MEHLIS TO QUIT HARIRI PROBE IN JANUARY
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Beirut, 6 Dec. (AKI) – German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis, the head of a UN probe into the assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri, will leave the post even if the investigation is extended beyond its 15 December deadline. A spokesman for Mehlis who asked not to be identified by name, said on Tuesday that the German prosecutor had indicated when he took on the job in June that he could only committ himself for a period no longer than seven months.

Mehlis would remain "available" to assist the commission of inquiry, but not as a full-time member, the spokesman said. On Tuesday Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak said he expected the commission of inquiry’s mandate to be renewed beyond 15 December the date on which Mehlis has to submit his final report to the United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan.

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Arab Journalists Association to boycott Beirut meeting
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CAIRO – The Union of Arab Journalists (UAJ) has decided to boycott a meeting, organised by the International Journalists Union (IJU) and scheduled to be held in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, in the second half of this month.(…)The Rome Protocol Agreement calls for prior coordination between the UAJ and IJU in any activity related to […]

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Lebanon unearths mass graves in old Syria stronghold
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ANJAR, Lebanon, Dec 4 (Reuters) – Lebanese forces excavated a suspected third mass grave on Sunday, a day after unearthing 25 decomposed corpses in an eastern town that was the headquarters of Syrian intelligence for three decades. Security forces were digging for more bodies at the third site near two other mass graves close to an old onion farm in the eastern town of Anjar, long used by Syrian intelligence as a notorious interrogation centre.

Security sources said the 25 bodies found so far — most now only skeletons in scraps of underwear — had lain in the shallow graves for over 12 years but it was not clear who they were and how they died, though one wore military trousers. The finds were the first directly linked to Syria’s 29-year military presence, which ended in April, though the bodies of 13 Lebanese soldiers killed during Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war were exhumed from Defence Ministry grounds at Yarze last month.

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Tourism in Lebanon Down 13% in Jan-Oct
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Bryan Plamondon, The number of tourists to Lebanon fell for the third consecutive month in October, plunging 48% month-on-month (to 61,093) following declines of 3% and 36% in August and September, respectively, according to figures released by the Tourism Ministry. Moreover, annual growth declined by 12% compared with October 2004. Lebanon’s tourism industry has struggled […]

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Lebanese find mass grave in former Syrian stronghold
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ANJAR, Lebanon, Dec 3 (Reuters) – Lebanese forces unearthed on Saturday at least 20 decomposed corpses buried in a mass grave in an eastern town that was the headquarters of Syrian intelligence for three decades, security sources said. Witnesses and security sources said the bodies, most now only skeletons in scraps of underwear, were found […]

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Cedar planted in Paris in homage to Samir Kassir
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A cedar of Lebanon was planted in the square in front of the Paris city hall today in homage to Samir Kassir, a journalist with French and Lebanese dual citizenship who was murdered in Beirut on 2 June. The ceremony was organised by Reporters Without Borders, the Kassir family and the Paris city administration.City of Paris representative Christian Sautter, Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Robert M

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