Syrian Social Nationalist Party Calls for Amnesty for Habib Shartouni

Amid the ongoing political tug-of-war over the general amnesty file, the Syrian Social Nationalist Party decided to enter the bargaining arena, announcing its rejection of any general amnesty law that does not include Habib Shartouni, the man responsible for the assassination of Lebanese President-elect Bashir Gemayel in 1982.

The party argued that Shartouni’s case should not be excluded, claiming it took place within the context of an “existential national struggle against the Zionist occupation and its tools at the time.” It added that “the act carried out by Habib Shartouni in 1982 was not an ordinary criminal act, but rather a political and military stance stemming from confronting the project of turning Lebanon into part of the Zionist sphere.”

With striking audacity, the party portrayed Shartouni as a “national hero” who resisted the “Zionist enemy” through the assassination of Bashir Gemayel, insisting that his case should not be treated selectively or excluded from any general amnesty.

What is ironic, however, is that the party seems to ignore where the policies of “resistance against the Zionist enemy” have led Lebanon, and the disastrous state and deep crisis the country finds itself trapped in today.