“10 armed men
kidnapped me, because they thought I mocked them”.
For four days I did not enjoy a good night sleep. For
four days I can only hear blood boiling in my veins, I
felt its warmth and rage in my head and my extremities.
This is the story of Abbas Saleh's kidnapping.
Our pride is so dear, nothing, such as the thought of
oppression or can sweet words replaces it. For four days
I have asked God myself, and all those around me –
What did I do? I became so obsessed, pacing myself back
and forth. What did I do? I have not found an answer to
the explosive pain raging inside of me. What crime did
I commit, for 10 heavy armed men to point their loaded
guns to my head and to my chest in a state of readiness
to aim and shoot at me with no hesitation? They proceeded
to beat me with the back of their guns, hands, and feet.
Until I fell to the ground, they dragged me from my head
to one their parked cars in the middle of a major road,
behind it, a line of cars and pedestrians awaiting and
watching this civilized scene and for the free violence
scenes in Lebanon, 2002. Meanwhile, the female onlookers
were shouting, “Have mercy on him – he is almost
dead”. To no avail, these women’s appeal went
unheard, because these victorious armed men remained in
their place and their cars stood still in the middle of
the street, leaving behind a big traffic jam, awaiting
for the security officer, whom I called for on my cellular
phone to let him know I was being kidnapped near the B.H.V
boutique, to arrive with his unit to arrest them alongside
with me. The security officer did not show up, nor did
the patrol unit, which the lieutenant promised me. These
armed men took off with me after they pushed me inside
the car in an uncomfortable position, stepping on me and
pointing their guns at my back to the lower level of the
public park across from the Marriott hotel. There, I was
dragged out of the car by the same method they pushed
me in, kicking me with their feet, swinging at me with
the butts of their machine guns to a room at the lower
level of a public park (supposedly a park for leisure
not as an underground detention to interrogate people).
This was not a fantasy; it was actually reality itself
that took place around 2 PM on Thursday afternoon.
The room was empty except for a lonely
chair, Ahmed Mcheek; a member of Hizbullah Security
Council sat on it. This man was well known among official
security agencies and among certain journalists in the
country. Signs of relief came to me when I found myself
facing a man that I have known before, and supposedly
he should know me too. And I became like someone who
found himself amongst men who only knew the language
of force and violence, despite the grinning on Ahmed’s
face starring at me with mean looks without uttering
a word.
For a moment I thought he was upset at
his men and angry at the wicked way they treated me,
and he does not know how he would apologize to me and
put me at ease, the thing that encouraged me to pose
a question at him inquiring whether if he recognized,
as he shook his head no, I began to introduce myself
to him, reminding him that we have met several times
before, the last one was at a government office at a
relative of mine and a friend of his. When I realized
that he did not care, I took it upon myself to initiate
what I came here for. I asked him about the crime that
I commit to deserve all the maltreatment, he responded
briefly: “You Have Insulted”
This is the conversation with Ahmed; I
started it by telling him exactly what happened.
On
a Thursday afternoon around 2 PM as I was stepping out
my car which I parked near a sea of other parked cars
near BHV boutique, a BMW stopped adjacent to my car,
the bearded driver of the BMW said to me: “Be aware,
the security forces are planning to tow all the cars
parked in this area” I took his words as someone
who is trying to forewarn me, I thanked him for his
kind gesture, something most drivers often do in situations
like this, and indeed I decided to move my car to a
different parking spot. But the bearded man as it appears,
interpreted my reluctance to get into my car fast enough
as a provocation intended toward him and as a sign of
carelessness to his advice, where he was quick to address
me in a very mean way: “Hurry up and move it, or
else!!!!! ” I looked at him surprised at the way
he was talking to me, saying to myself: “ What
is the matter with this guy addressing in this tone
of voice?, What business of his being interested in
traffic matters, he is just a bearded civilian in a
civilian car? And why is he still in the middle of the
street causing traffic jam, behind him lines of honking
cars awaiting him? And why of all people he chose me
to forewarn me about the tow truck, even though plenty
of other cars parked in this area. Before I reached
an answer to my own questions or even utter a word,
the man angrily said to me: “did you just insult
me”, “who are you? And why would I insult
you? Do you know? And why the sudden interest in my
car specifically? You have advised me and I thanked
you for your advice, so God be with you, the least you
could do is to let the traffic behind you go, you are
the one who is breaking the law, not me.
Obviously
my words added to his rage, he grabbed his cell phone
to make a call uttering: “ I will show you who
I am, and you will learn how to speak me with respect.”.
He turned to his phone to tell the person at the other
end: ”hajj, send me ten of your armed men here,
I have a catch!!!”. I was outraged with his phone
call, I went to him to say: “My Dear, it is obvious
that you still live in a fantasy, you should know that
the era of militias and armed men has been long over
(sadly I thought so) and you should get rid of these
fantasies of yours, and the language that you address
people with, to realize the new reality and accept it
as is, he said “if you are a man, wait for me”
I
remained in my place; I called a security officer friend
of mine to tell him about the “latest joke”.
As soon as the security officer answered me, two vehicles;
Van, a Range Rover followed by the same BMW packed with
more than 10 armed men with guns sticking out of their
vehicles, were heading toward me. I informed the security
officer that I was with on the cell phone of an attempt
to kidnap me on the hands members of an unknown militia.
The security officer assured me that within minutes,
an emergent patrol unit would be sent my way. These
armed men must have overheard part of my phone conversation
with the security officer, so they quickly dispatched
me, shouting “ We will wait also for the patrol
unit so we can detain them with you.”
As I was telling the story to Ahmed Mcheek
where he must have interrupted more than ten times,
that he is not willing to listen to it. Ahmed enforced
this by saying: “You have insulted us, and who
ever insult us has to pay dearly”.
I found myself obliged to prove to him
that I am not particularly fond of insulting people,
and it is not part of moral upbringing, even if this
has to happen, it does not deserve this theatrical..
I said to Ahmed: “Of course the one who told you
about the incident is the same person who assaulted
me. Consequently, that person turned our dispute to
a political motive rather than a personal one, so he
would gain your sympathy. I would like to assure you
that why would I insult a party or a group before I
even know the political affiliated of the man that I
am in dispute with? Sir, You can ask him whether he
introduced himself to me before or if he made his affiliation
to me known. Believe me, I did not know I was in the
hands or dealing with Hizbullah until I first saw you.
Ahmed replied, “Are you trying to convince me that
the man is lying”, “of course not, this does
not require an interpretation.”.
Ahmed interrupted me saying: “Shut
up, he is a party member and his shoe is more credible
than you and thousands of Lebanese”.
“His party affiliation does not make
him flawless, and we all make mistakes”
“We do not make mistakes”
“Why do you persist of involving
your party and yourself in this, Haven’t you read
in the Quran: which means: (someone can help with the
translation here).
“Don’t be a smart alek, he is
not the bad one, and you are”
“ Ok, as long as you convicted before
listening to me, and you do not seem you want do that,
why all the insults then, do what you think is right”
“Of course, I will do what is right,
it is out of my hand from here on”
Ahmed left the room with some of his men,
where later some of his men came back to unleash on
me their worst beating. They kept kicking until I fell
on the floor, stepping on me with their feet, then they
all left. While I was on the ground, I took advantage
of my cell phone to place a call to the proper authorities.
Mr. Mcheek’s cell phone was ringing non-stop. About
an hour later or so, Mr Mcheek returned to the room
where I was detained, to tell me in a calmer and subdued
tone: “Hizbullah’s supporters are planning
to throw a Ramadan Breakfast (Iftar) this evening at
this park, and it has been said that the Secretary General
of Hizbullah is planning to attend, that is why our
men were working diligently to move all the cars at
an early time of the day from the park, as a precautionary
measure to protect the safety of the Secretary, and
you left your car near the park, therefore a misunderstanding
took place, and that is all.
- Very good, but why did the gentlemen
not say so, and I would have, for sure, acted and removed
the car with the utmost respect, not for him, but for
the individual whom he represents.
- This is what has happened, and probably
the guys mistreated you. We do not discuss the past.
- On what basis?
- On the basis of what is gone is gone..
Well, I did not lie to you and I am still
under your control and you are well able to avenge me
now, for so that when I leave here, I am going to the
Prosecutor General or to the police so, that I can press
charges on the basis of kidnapping, withholding of my
rights, beating and violating me, right before I go
the hospital (shaking his head). Are you able to stand
against the “Sayyed”, in a judicial case against
“Hizbullah”?
Who said I was going to press charges
against “Hizbullah”? I will press charges
against certain well-known individuals. They hid me
for more than 2 hours and a half and I was beaten and
violated. Is there not in this country, governmental
agencies, a Judiciary, and a government???
(Here, Msheek, became angry again) Look,
we are the government, and we are the governmental agencies,
and if there is a person to criticize us, he will be
stepped on, so how can a person try to stand in our
faces?????
- Please understand me, those trouble
makers (the 10 guys), through their actions cause problems
for the “hizb” (party) before anyone else
does, whatever it may be, and your ugly actions affects
the trust in the party that they belong to and affects
it’s image and does not help the party’s combative
path. I believe, the smart individuals in the party
look upon these actions as nails in the coffin in the
line of this political stance.
Most importantly, is that they released
me at 4:30 PM and I went directly to the police station
where I executed my duty. Until the judiciary may say
it’s word in this case, there remains a lot of
hanging and open questions, directed in many directions,
not only directed primarily to the Minister of the Interior
and Municipalities, which is supposedly upon him to
answer big and heavy questions, which I predict will
disturb the majority of the Lebanese, and he is not
far away from it: Where is the security, your Excellency?
Who protects the little poor citizens from accusations
and fabrications from evil elements, overshadowed by
informal armed apparatuses, which parallel, which have
found chances to release their complexes with all types
of weapons and they frighten people, and kidnap all
those who they don’t like in the open and take
them to private underground jails, with the least of
their rights or legal summons and they encroach on the
peoples dignity/pride as they please, far from any formal
accountability or scrutiny.
Who protects us unarmed civilians from
those human wolves amongst us with their weaponry and
arms?? Who are those who consider the shoes of those
who belong to their party above all suspicion and most
truthful than any other human?
Tell us, for God’s sake, your Excellency,
who is the real ruler of our beloved republic??? Is
it true what they told me? We demand to know the truth
from you even if it is bitter and dark, therefore at
least.
By: Abbas Saleh/ Editor - Nahar newspaper
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