Gebran Tueni - Assassination and Burial

Assassination and Burial

Tueni was assassinated by a car bomb on 12 December 2005 in Mkalles, an industrial suburb of Beirut, while he drove from his home in Beit Meri (Mount Lebanon) to his newspaper’s offices in Beirut’s Martyrs’ Square. He was the seventh target in a series of assassinations of politicians, journalists and security personnel that had began in Lebanon in 2005.

Although Tueni continued his editorials in An Nahar, he was out of Beirut shortly before the assassination. Because after Hariri assassination, he learned that he was on the top of a hit list and started taking steps, like switching cars every other day. In June 2005, his star columnist Samir Kassir was assinated. Then, he left Lebanon and stayed in Paris for a while and came back just before 12 December 2005, the day of the assassination.

He was buried at Saint Dimitrius church graves after the funeral that took place at Saint-George church in Beirut. Tens of thousands of mourners filled the streets of Beirut for Tueni's funeral on 14 December 2005. Many mourners blamed Syria for his death due to his anti-Syrian policy and they chanted anti-Syrian slogans. The members of the Lebanese parliament also observed a moment of silence during a special parliamentary session. Continuing the play on words with "An nahar" (The Day), family members stated that night would not fall on the newspaper.