BEIRUT: "We shall not be silenced; paying with your life is part of a journalist's job description," Gibran Tueni once said. "Anywhere in the Middle East, and Lebanon is no exception, a journalist has one of the most dangerous jobs, where messengers like Samir Kassir are targeted and get killed," the late journalist and MP once told The Daily Star, sensing the Lebanese media would fall victim to the assassins of the truth.
"But these assassinations will not stop people from writing and speaking out. If anything, people will just become more determined to have their voice heard," he said, in what now eerily seems like an address to Lebanese journalists asking them to continue his march toward the establishment of freedom of expression and the liberty of the media.
Following the September 2004 extension of President Emile Lahoud's term in office, Tueni stepped up his calls for the withdrawal of Syrian forces and intelligence services from Lebanon, launching a strong attack against the Syrian regime and its supporters here.
Skimming through the numerous developments of the past year, we came across several declarations and statements made by Tueni, which, in hindsight, may have cost him his life.
On former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's February 14 assassination:
"Every time they commit a crime they accuse the Israeli intelligence of having a hand in it, but we ask who controls everything that happens security-wise in the country? It's the Syrians and their puppet Lebanese regime."
"Lebanon is currently a captive state in the hands of the Syrians, and we call on the international community to take effective measures to end this situation."
On the March 14 demonstration:
"Those who are saying that the bond will break are being brainwashed by the Syrians and the Lebanese regime, who want to find a pretext to bring the Syrians back into the country, by claiming we cannot sit together around the same table."
On the June 2 murder of An-Nahar journalist Samir Kassir:
"The Syrian regime is responsible from head to toe for this horrific terrorist crime. Lebanon's opposition should close ranks again to have every Syrian intelligence cell left behind in Lebanon ruthlessly smashed."
Tueni also singled out Syrian President Bashar Assad, saying: "Bashar Assad should not be allowed to have a single intelligence operative lingering in Lebanon."
"It was Samir Kassir today, it may be Gibran Tueni tomorrow and God knows who else would follow. Syria's terrorism has to be eradicated once and for all."
On Parliament's August 2005 decision to reopen the Murr Television Channel (MTV):
"The decision was a step in the right direction to clear up all the wrong practices of the Syrian era."
On the reported October 12, 2005, suicide of Syrian Minister Ghazi Kenaan:
"It is not known for sure if he committed suicide."
"What happens makes us believe even more that the Syrian regime is involved in the assassination of Rafik Hariri."
"If the Syrian regime were not really involved in the assassination of Hariri, it wouldn't be reacting as it is doing now with (German prosecutor Detlev) Mehlis' report to be out soon."
On the unearthing of graves in Yarze in November 2005:
"President Emile Lahoud should be questioned because he was army commander and he did not protect the army's dignity. He is the main person responsible."
Excerpts from Tueni's final editorial published on December 8:
"The Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq al-Sharaa should understand that Syrian hegemony in Lebanon is over and that the Lebanese people know more than the Syrian regime what is best for them. The latter is trying to re-establish its control over Lebanon, whereas the Lebanese people aim at defending their independence, sovereignty and unity after the independence uprising and withdrawal of the Syrian troops from Lebanon.
"He should also understand that what happened in Lebanon was a miracle and a big achievement, not a negative thing as he said in his last declaration in Cairo.
"What does he mean by internationalization when he speaks of the "internationalization of the Lebanese issue?"
"Excuse us, Minister Sharaa, between loyalty to Syria and loyalty to Lebanon, we chose the second one because this would serve the Lebanese and Syrian interests at the same time.
"At the Arab level, we will always back the just Arab causes, in particular the Palestinian cause and the liberation of the Golan Heights. And we consider that those in Lebanon, who chose to be loyal to Syria at the expense of their country, do not serve the Lebanese or Syrian interests but those of Israel, our common enemy.
"Does Minister Sharaa search for such people to build alliances with them?"
Gibran Tueni will always be remembered as a free journalist and politician, and most of all as a loyal citizen who once said: "We swear by God Almighty, Muslim and Christians, to remain united, and defend our great country, forever and ever."
