#Saudi #dissident #killed #Lebanon
A Saudi dissident living in Lebanon was killed in a Beirut suburb and two of his brothers were arrested in connection with the incident, Lebanese police and local media said on Monday.
The victim was stabbed to death Saturday at his home in an area of southern Beirut known to be under security surveillance by Hezbollah, a Shia organization backed by Saudi nemesis Iran.
His brothers confessed to killing him “for family reasons,” according to a statement by the Lebanese Internal Security Forces.
Police only identified the man by his initials, but a security source told AFP it was dissident Maneh al-Yami.
In a social media post Sunday that did not name the victim, Waleed Bukhari, Riyadh’s ambassador to Lebanon, expressed his appreciation for the police’s efforts to “uncover the facts and bring the perpetrators to justice.”
Yami helped found the National Assembly Party in 2020, a Saudi opposition party made up of dissidents living in exile in the UK, US and elsewhere.
He married his brother’s ex-wife and was killed in a fight over her right to take custody of their children, said a Lebanese security source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
On Saturday, Yami fought with his brother for his wife’s custody claim. The brother then left Yami’s house and came back with her other brother to kill him, the source said.
The National Assembly party said Sunday it was trying to find out the exact circumstances of his killing, including the “details and motives” of those involved.
It also said Yami had contacted the United Nations to seek asylum in another country. That could not be confirmed immediately on Monday.
– Hezbollah Bastion –
Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy that does not tolerate any political opposition.
The National Assembly Party was the first organized political resistance during the reign of King Salman. Its creation came amid a growing government crackdown on dissent and freedom of expression in the kingdom.
According to the Lebanese police, Yami was born in 1980 and the two imprisoned brothers in 1976 and 1990.
Police said the incident happened around 20:30 (1730 GMT) in Dahiyeh, a Hezbollah stronghold.
The Lebanese security source said Yami lived in Dahiyeh, meaning he was at least tacitly under Hezbollah protection.
Saudi Arabia and Iran, the Middle East’s two main power brokers, are waging a proxy war and vying for dominance across the region, including Lebanon.
Hezbollah has a military arsenal rivaling that of the state and has also been the dominant force in the Lebanese parliament in recent years.
The organization has been involved, to varying degrees, in conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Yemen, making it one of Tehran’s strongest allies and an integral part of its foreign policy.
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