Hiam Kaadan, Em Ahmad, during a demonstration organized in front of the Beirut courthouse by relatives of the port victims. (Credit: Mohammad Yassine/ L'Orient-Le Jour)
Hiam Kaadan has been in mourning for five years now. Dressed in black from head to toe, summer and winter alike, and always clutching to her chest in public a portrait of her son, Ahmad — taken at age 29 by the double explosion at the Port of Beirut on Aug. 4, 2020 — she does not go unnoticed. Despite many obstacles, Em Ahmad has rarely missed a sit-in or a meeting with authorities to push for the investigation into the catastrophe.“Since we lost Ahmad, there is no more life here. His departure left a void; the house has changed. I can no longer be happy," says Em Ahmad, sitting in the small living room of her apartment in the Tariq al-Jadideh neighborhood of Beirut. "Even when my daughter got engaged, I couldn’t stand the celebrations and the music. [The blast] killed the whole family.” “His country killed him, this corrupt...
Hiam Kaadan has been in mourning for five years now. Dressed in black from head to toe, summer and winter alike, and always clutching to her chest in public a portrait of her son, Ahmad — taken at age 29 by the double explosion at the Port of Beirut on Aug. 4, 2020 — she does not go unnoticed. Despite many obstacles, Em Ahmad has rarely missed a sit-in or a meeting with authorities to push for the investigation into the catastrophe.“Since we lost Ahmad, there is no more life here. His departure left a void; the house has changed. I can no longer be happy," says Em Ahmad, sitting in the small living room of her apartment in the Tariq al-Jadideh neighborhood of Beirut. "Even when my daughter got engaged, I couldn’t stand the celebrations and the music. [The blast] killed the whole family.” “His country killed him,...
Israeli strikes kill 20 people in 24 hours in Lebanon 