Ibrahim Mousawi

Ibrahim Mousawi (Arabic: إبراهيم الموسوي‎; also spelled Moussawi, El-Moussaoui, born 1965) is a Lebanese journalist and spokesman for the Islamist group Hezbollah.

Biography

He was born in 1965 to a family from Baalbek and grew up in the southern suburbs of Beirut.[1] Mousawi is Shiite. He has two BAs in Journalism and English literature from the Lebanese University and has worked as a head master at secondary schools. Mousawi is editor of the weekly Hezbollah newspaper al-Intiqad (Criticism)[2] in Beirut. He has been quoted as a Hezbollah spokesman since at least 1998.[3]

He joined the Hezbollah TV station Al Manar (the beacon), which does not include Israeli officials in its broadcasts because, according to Mousawi, "It [Israel] is an enemy state," and "why would you put spokesmen for an enemy state on the air?"[4] He hosted a political talk show and worked as editor-in-chief of foreign news at Al Manar. In an article for the Daily Star in 2002, Mousawi explained the religious basis for suicide attacks in a fatwa of Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah.[5] Jeffrey Goldberg wrote in the New Yorker magazine that Mousawi had confided to him that "Jews are a lesion on the forehead of history."[6] When Al-Manar was banned from French satellite TV for airing a 29-part Ramadan special Ash-Shatat (Diaspora) during October–November 2003, which featured the "Blood libel against Jews" and quoted extensively from the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, Mousawi said the ban resulted from "political pressure by the Jewish lobby".[7] He earned his MA in Political Science from the American University of Beirut (AUB) in 2003.

Mousawi rose to prominence during the 2006 Lebanon War as a spokesman for Hezbollah. He said that "pain is the only language that the enemy understands".[8] Following the cessation of hostilities, Mousawi was invited to speak to European audiences in Ireland, Germany[9] and the UK,[10] where he was announced as a Hezbollah spokesman on posters of the Stop the War Coalition.[11] Mousawi received a PhD in Political Islam from Birmingham University in 2007.[12] The title of his dissertation was "Compatibility between Islam and democracy; Shiism and democracy under Wilayat Al-Faqih, Iran as a case study". He coauthored an article on "Hizbullah's Jihad Concept"[13] and lectures on political science at AUB.[14]

In October 2007, Mousawi was refused entry to Ireland on security grounds following a recommendation from the Gardaí[15] and he is also barred from entering the United States because of his links with Hezbollah.[16] The British Conservative Party tried to have Mousawi banned from Britain like Yusuf al-Qaradawi and Moshe Feiglin in February 2008, but failed.[17] Mousawi's visit has been condemned by Leader David Cameron in the House of Commons and by shadow Defence Minister Baroness Neville-Jones, a former chairwoman of the Joint Intelligence Committee.[18] In February 2009, Hezbollah publicly appointed Mousawi as its new media relations officer.[19] When Mousawi was announced for a UK visit in March 2009, campaigners from the Centre for Social Cohesion pledged to seek an arrest warrant for him.[20] He was banned from the UK in March 2009.[21]

References

1. One mans tussles with the thought police Archived 2008-02-23 at the Wayback Machine By Kristin Dailey, Daily Star, 17-12-2007
2. Al Intiqad weekly
3. in an interview with Al J. Venter "Middle East Mind Games: Interview With Hezbollah," Soldier Of Fortune, January 1998. p. 63 according to The Political Warfighter Mr. Erik Evans, Small Wars Journal, Feb 2006 - and: Violence escalates along Israel-Lebanon border CNN, December 23, 1998
4. LEBANESE TV STATION MAKES NO DISGUISE OF ITS HATRED FOR ISRAEL By Jon Sawyer, Post-Dispatch Washington Bureau Chief February 10, 2003
5. "Fadlallah Explains Religious Basis for Suicide Attacks," Daily Star, June 8, 2002
6. In the Party of God - Are terrorists in Lebanon preparing for a larger war? Jeffrey Goldberg, The New Yorker on October 14, 2002
7. France offers 'hate TV' reprieve BBC News 20 August 2004
8. A. Hackensberger: »Israel versteht nur die Sprache der Gewalt« Neues Deutschland, August 3, 2006
9. M100 - Das internationale Medientreffen im Rahmen der Medienwoche Berlin-Brandenburg in Potsdam, 7 September 2007
10. i.e. Mousawi in Belfast in October 2006 and at the "World Against War international peace conference" in London, December 2007
11. poster for a public meeting by the Stop the War Coalition Archived 2011-04-25 at the Wayback Machine on February 28, 2008 at Euston Road, London: in English "Editor of Hizbollah newspaper Al-Intiqad", in Arabic "Editor of Magazine "Intiqad" and spokesperson for Hizbullah"
12. Prof. Scott Lucas was the examiner of his Ph.D. thesis: A Tale of (British or Lebanese) Extremism: My Friend "The Radical Propagandist" blog Watching America by Professor Scott Lucas, March 3, 2008
13. Hizbullah’s Jihad Concept Archived 2011-10-28 at the Wayback Machine by Hilal Khashan (American University of Beirut) and Ibrahim Mousawi (Birmingham University) in: The Journal of Religion and Society Vol. 9 (2007) ISSN 1522-5658
14. AUB News January 2008
15. Lebanese TV journalist refused visa for anti-war conference galwayfirst, 14 October 2007
16. London pressed to deny visa to Hizbullah spokesman By Andrew Wander, Daily Star, February 28, 2009
17. Freedom of Information request: Home Office silent on how Hizbollah man was given entry to UK by Simon Rocker, The Jewish Chronicle 28 March 2008
18. David Cameron, House of Commons Hansard Debates for 14 Nov 2007, Mr. Amess, Oral Answers House of Commons, Monday 3 December 2007, Lord Strathclyde, House of Lords Hansard text for 19 March 2008
19. Hezbollah appoints new media relations officer iloubnan.info - February 04, 2009
20. Campaigners will seek arrest of Islamic radical By David Barrett, The Telegraph 7 March 2009
21. ""Lebanese newspaper editor to be denied entry to Britain", Press Gazette, 13 March 2009". Archived from the original on 6 March 2012. Retrieved 13 March 2009.