Ahmad Shukur’s brother urges authorities to investigate his disappearance

BEIRUT — Abbas Ali Daher Shukur, the brother of former General Security officer Ahmad Shukur, who has been missing since Dec. 19, appealed to President Joseph Aoun, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri in three separate open letters to work for his brother’s “release.”

Abbas Shukur, the mukhtar of Nabi Sheet in the Baalbeck district, urged Aoun on Thursday to “help clarify the fate of Ahmad Shukur and strive to secure his release wherever he may be, within the framework of your constitutional powers and your unifying national role.”

He added that the family places the case under the president’s responsibility, citing his role as “guarantor of the Constitution, protector of national unity and a unifying reference for all Lebanese.”

In a separate letter to Salam, Shukur called on the government to give the case “the highest attention and necessary follow-up,” saying he trusts its role in upholding the rule of law and state institutions. In his message to Berri, he asked the speaker to give the disappearance “special attention,” recalling the close friendship that once linked Berri and his father.

Last week, a judicial source told L’Orient-Le Jour there were suspicions that the disappearance may be a kidnapping attributed to Israel’s Mossad. Abbas and Ahmad's third brother, Hassan Shukur, is suspected of involvement in the 1986 capture of Israeli pilot Ron Arad.

Judicial sources told AFP that Ahmad Shukur may have been “lured by two Swedish nationals” who arrived in Lebanon two days before his disappearance, in an area far from his home. One of them reportedly left the country the same day Shukur went missing.

A source told L’Orient-Le Jour that two Lebanese suspects are being sought, at least one of whom holds Lebanese Swedish nationality.

On Tuesday, security and judicial sources told L’Orient-Le Jour that a person of interest in the case had surrendered to authorities several days earlier and is currently under investigation.

Disparition d'Ahmad Chokr : le frère de l'ex-officier appelle les autorités à agir