#JusticeForYves: How to Get away with Murder in Lebanon

Last Friday night, Yves Nawfal was gunned down in Faraya. He had just been celebrating his 26th birthday with his friends at the pub Powder.

 

 

Step 1: Get into a bar fight

 

Earlier that evening, Nawfal was embroiled in a fight with one Charbel Georges Khalil, a local from Hrajel with a criminal past. The altercation was, as many pub brawls are, over a girl, and it was eventually broken up by the bar owner.

 

 

Step 2: Trap your target

 

Nawfal and his friends left Powder, but Khalil wasn’t satisfied and he instructed his men to block the road. Nawfal got stuck, but he made some phone calls and soon, the road was re-opened.

 

 

Step 3: Ambush your victim

 

But Khalil wasn’t finished. When Nawfal and his friends drove by, Khalil and his men fired at their two vehicles 17 times. Khalil used a semi-automatic, while Nawfal and his companions were unarmed.

Nawfal, who was hit with four bullets, and one of his friends were severely injured. They went to the hospital and pleas for O+ blood donations were shared on social media, but Nawfal didn’t survive.

 

 

Step 4: Use your connections for protection

 

Days after the murder, Khalil is still at large. He is accused of using political connections to remain in hiding and protect him from arrest.

Since then, Lebanon’s newsfeeds have been blowing up with outrage and the hashtag #JusticeForYves.

The tragic case has once more spotlighted Lebanon’s longstanding problem with corruption.

“I know it’s useless to talk about gun laws in a country where almost every household has a pistol and an assault rifle,” wrote one Beirut blogger, “…and given the long police record of the suspects, it’s unbelievable they were allowed not only to roam free, but armed to the teeth.”

“Rumors are that a political figure in the Kesserwen region is harboring the criminals now, which only adds insult to injury,” he continued. “Wastas for murderers are never ok, even in a country that runs on the powers of wastas.”

Yesterday, former Lebanese Minister of Interior and Municipalities Ziyad Baroud tweeted this:

 

 

WE SAID THIS: Our hearts go out to Yves’s family and loved ones.