BEIRUT LETTER
The late Ghassem Soleimani was not the only personality to have monopolized the attention of the media and social networks in the Arab world at the start of the year. Next to the Iranian general, assassinated on January 3 by an American strike, which raised the specter of a conflagration in the Gulf for a few days, a celebrity of a completely different kind caused a stir: the Lebanese pop star Nancy Ajram, 36, queen of the Arab charts.
On the night of January 5, his home on the heights of Beirut was the scene of a mysterious murder. The victim, a 31-year-old Syrian named Mohamed Al-Moussa, was shot several times. Is this a case of self defense against a threatening burglar, as assured by the singer's husband to the millions of fans, Fady Al-Hachem, who says he pulled the trigger?
Or a disguised assassination, against the backdrop of a financial quarrel, as the Syrian family claims, that he was working in the couple's villa? One thing is certain: in the fairytale-like career of Nancy Ajram, spotted at the age of 12 on the stage of a singing competition, this macabre affair is a stain. It flatters a course so far very consensual, made of gently sexy tubes, songs full of good feelings and clips for Coca-Cola.
Weapon in hand
Lebanese justice, which has started to investigate, is walking on eggs. A dentist by profession, Fady Al-Hachem has been charged with intentional homicide, which in theory exposes him to fifteen to twenty years in prison. But in the charges, the prosecutor accepted the self-defense hypothesis, which could lead to the acquittal's release. In his defense, he relied on the images shot during the night of the drama by the house's surveillance cameras.
We see a man with a masked face, his head covered with a hood, presented as Mohamed Al-Moussa, who approaches the building, enters it, then moves in the living room with slow steps, without apparent aim. After a few seconds, "Awakened by noise", as he explained to the Lebanese chain MTV, Fady Al-Hachem appears in the picture and finds himself facing the supposed intruder, who puts him in play with what looks like a gun.
The man then allegedly summoned him to bring him his wife's jewelry, forcing him to retrace his steps. The video then shows the masked individual walking towards another part of the house, under the eyes of three private guards, who have meanwhile arrived in the living room. Fearing in his words for the life of his three daughters, Fady Al-Hachem then sets off in pursuit of the alleged attacker, his personal weapon in his hand.
