
Internal Security Forces officers in front of the Beirut courthouse. (Credit: Hassan Ammar/AFP)
BEIRUT — Two days after a person was killed in an exchange of fire with the Internal Security Forces (ISF), his family released a statement denying allegations made by the ISF about the circumstances of his death.
The incident happened when the security forces headed to the home of the deceased, identified by his family as Talal Ashkar. According to the ISF, they received information from a foreign embassy in Lebanon, that on Jan. 9, two embassy employees heard gunshots coming from a house adjacent to the embassy in the Dik al-Mahdi area. The ISF statement added that this posed a danger to the employees, noting that this was not the first time that gunshots had been heard from this place.
The ISF also said, in its statement, that when it arrived at Ashkar's house, his father informed them that his son, born in 1969, suffers from bipolar disorder. The father added that Ashkar was not home at the time and pledged that upon his return, he would inform him to immediately head to an ISF center for questioning.
On Jan. 12, after Ashkar did not show up, an ISF patrol went to his house. According to the statement, when the patrol arrived, Ashkar tried to throw a grenade at the patrol, where one of the officers "managed to hold his hand and prevent him from throwing it."
The statement added that, following that, a captain and two officers tried to convince his son to surrender without resistance. However. they were surprised when "Talal started shooting, injuring the captain two bullets." This "forced the two officers to shoot in his direction ... resulting in Talal's death."
Finally, the police said that they seized three hand grenades and a weapon in the shooter's possession, as well as a quantity of drugs inside his apartment.
Talal's family denies
On Tuesday, the deceased's family said that "on the website of the security forces, a photo of the seized items was published, through which the security forces tried to portray the deceased victim as a criminal." However, the photo shows only a military weapon that is almost present in every home and some drugs that the victim was taking for psychological and health reasons."
"More importantly, the crime attributed to the deceased was shooting in the air to celebrate the election of the new president, so does this legitimize his assassination in front of his 84-year-old father," the family added.
Moreover, the family said that the "security personnel came to the place without showing any sign of arrest or any document indicating their identity, but rather entered in a way has nothing to do with the state of law, with the aim of intimidating those present."
"Despite the security forces' knowledge of the deceased's health and psychological condition, this did not deter them from raining six bullets all over his body, and Talal only returned fire with fire without knowing the identity of his attackers. Whoever looks at the crime scene thinks it is a war zone, as no corner of the house was spared from random gunfire," the family's statement reads.
The family also emphasized that Ashkar was not the initiator of the shooting, and he "remained lying on the ground after his injury for more than half an hour despite his father's request to transfer him to the American University Hospital, but none of the members of the Judicial Police complied with his request and kept the wounded man bleeding on the ground, claiming that he was hit by a shallow bullet in the shoulder."
Finally, the family called for a transparent and fair investigation into the circumstances of the incident, to ensure that information is not manipulated and Ashkar's reputation is not tarnished.