On the stage of Irwin Hall, after the performance, activist Wadad Halawani and the two actors who portrayed her character and the voice-over of her missing husband, Christine Shoueri and Ibrahim Khalil. (Credit: Anne-Marie el-Hage)
"We took 36 years to secure the right to know the fate of the missing from the war. Do we need another 36 years for the law to be implemented?" Wadad Halawani said of the monumental fight she undertook after her husband Adnan's abduction in 1982, urging authorities to address the issue of those missing from Lebanon's civil war (1975-1990).
After several unsuccessful attempts, Law 105 was finally adopted in 2018, granting families "the right to know" and establishing an independent national commission for the issue. Yet progress is slow, if not stagnant.
On Tuesday, Wadad, who fate turned into an icon for the cause of Lebanon's vanished and kidnapped, was honored by the Arab Institute for Women (AIW) at the Lebanese American University of Beirut (LAU). A play titled "Wadad, an Ant Who Digs in Stone," recounted the life of this mother, wife and teacher who became an activist along with her unending mourning without evidence, her determination to not give up despite despair and discouragement, akin to the relatives of the 17,000 people who went missing during Lebanon's deadly conflict, crossing all religious and sectarian lines.
"We fought for the right to know the fate of the missing and kidnapped from Lebanon's war. But so much remains to be done. We live above mass graves, synonymous with war crimes. And the state does not give us the means to move forward," she told L’Orient-Le Jour, condemning the authorities' inertia on the issue, while families of the missing tirelessly call for a substantial budget, investigations, clues, tests, and results.
"The warlords who kidnapped and massacred have become MPs, ministers, and more," she told the audience, including MP Halimeh Kaakour and many human rights activists.
With an annual budget of LL 3 billion ($33,500), the independent national commission tasked with the issue of the missing from the Lebanese conflict, established in 2020 and whose mandate expires on July 10, has neither sufficient financial resources nor premises. "We have still laid the groundwork, thanks to aid from international agencies and local activists," Wadad said.
The dialogue between a woman and her missing husband
On stage, Wadad, portrayed by actress Christine Shoueri, speaks to Adnan, a fellow teacher, abducted from their home in Ras al-Nabaa on Sept. 24, 1982, in broad daylight by two armed men posing as officials. "I tried to stop them. They pointed their weapons at your temples. They showed me their supposedly official papers, said they needed you for five minutes to investigate a car accident. I recorded the license plate of their car, a Peugeot 404, but it turned out to be fake. I moved heaven and earth to find you. I knocked on every official's door. But you never came back," she stated. In a voice-over, played by actor Ibrahim Khalil, her husband responded to her. Wadad's suffering was poignant. As intense as the love she had for the father of their two sons, Ziyad and Ghassan, very young at the time. The children whom she protected by hiding the truth. "I told them you were traveling," she said.
Wadad's fight took on another dimension when she realized she could not achieve anything alone. Through a local radio station, she initially gathers 200 families searching for a missing or kidnapped loved one during the conflict. Through mobilization, "we managed to be heard. We were received by Prime Minister Shafiq Wazzan," she stated. But the results fell short of expectations. In 1995, a law on forced disappearances was adopted by Lebanese authorities, stating that any person missing for four years can be declared dead by their family. The shock was immense. Wadad resigned herself to mourning. Her determination only grew stronger. She founded the Committee of Families of the Missing in Lebanon.
The journey of an exceptional woman
For AIW director Myriam Sfeir Murad, the decision to bring Wadad's suffering to the stage was obvious. "The cause of the missing from the war transcended religious, national, and partisan divisions. It united families of the missing wherever they came from." The project was funded by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) with the Canadian Embassy and U.N. Women under the Women's Leadership Fund. "Wadad Halawani is a formidable example of female leadership," Sfeir Murad said.
Bringing the journey of this exceptional woman to the stage was not easy for director and activist Lina Abyad. "It took me two solid years to prepare this play," she stated. After around 30 meetings with Wadad, it was clear to emphasize three aspects of her character: her love story with her husband, her search for him and, finally, the anger caused by the lethargy of authorities facing such a situation. "I wanted spectators to grasp the unbearable absence of a person whose relatives know nothing of. To understand that the search becomes an obsession," explained Abyad. "I also wanted spectators to leave angry with this corrupt state that, over the years, has disregarded the families' pain and insulted the memory of the missing."
Because families of the missing have the right to know the fate of their loved ones, Wadad launched a national petition with a group of activists called the Civil Forum.
The play runs on June 11, 12, and 13 at 8:30 p.m. at LAU's Irwin Hall, and on June 14 and 15 at Beit Beirut, Sodeco, at the same time. Admission is free.
This article was originally published in French in L'Orient-Le Jour.
