Ibrahim Mousawi

Ibrahim Mousawi (also spelled Moussawi, El-Moussaoui) is a Lebanese journalist who is sympathetic to Hezbollah.

He was born in 1965 to a family from Baalbek and grew up in the southern suburbs of Beirut. [ [http://english.hizbollah.org/essaydetails.php?eid=577&cid=214 One mans tussles with the thought police] By Kristin Dailey, Daily Star, 17-12-2007] 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) [ [http://www.alintiqad.com/ Al Intiqad weekly] ] in Beirut. He has been quoted as a Hezbollah spokesman since at least 1998. [in an interview with Al J. Venter “Middle East Mind Games: Interview With Hezbollah,” Soldier Of Fortune, January 1998. p. 63 according to [http://smallwarsjournal.com/documents/swjvol4.pdf The Political Warfighter] Mr. Erik Evans, Small Wars Journal, Feb 2006 - and: [http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/meast/9812/23/lebanon.03/index.html Violence escalates along Israel-Lebanon border] CNN, December 23, 1998] He joint the Hezbollah TV station Al Manar (the beacon), which does not include Israeli officials in its broadcasts. According to Mousawi because "It [Israel] is an enemy state," and "why would you put spokesmen for an enemy state on the air?" [ [http://www.pulitzercenter.org/temp/FOUR_NATION.PDF LEBANESE TV STATION MAKES NO DISGUISE OF ITS HATRED FOR ISRAEL] By Jon Sawyer, Post-Dispatch Washington Bureau Chief February 10, 2003] 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. [ [http://www.lebanonwire.com/0206/02060802DS.asp "Fadlallah Explains Religious Basis for Suicide Attacks,"] Daily Star, June 8, 2002] Mousawi has been reported in the New Yorker magazine as saying that Jews are "a lesion on the forehead of history" [ [http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2002/10/14/021014fa_fact4?currentPage=all In the Party of God - Are terrorists in Lebanon preparing for a larger war?] Jeffrey Goldberg, The New Yorker on October 14, 2002] .When Al-Manar was banned from French satellite TV for airing a 29-part Ramadan special 'Al-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" [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3581514.stm France offers 'hate TV' reprieve] BBC News 20 August, 2004] .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". [A. Hackensberger: [http://www.neues-deutschland.de/artikel/94796.html »Israel versteht nur die Sprache der Gewalt«] Neues Deutschland, August 3, 2006] Following the cessation of hostilities, Mousawi was invited to speak to European audiences in Ireland, Germany [ [http://www.m100potsdam.com/Presse/Pressematerial/Download_2007/M100_2007_Pressemappe.pdf M100 - Das internationale Medientreffen im Rahmen der Medienwoche Berlin-Brandenburg] in Potsdam, 7. September 2007] and the UK, [i.e. Mousawi in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMBsIxPQluU Belfast in October 2006] and at the "World Against War international peace conference" in London, December 2007] where he was announced as a Hezbollah spokesman on posters of the Stop the War Coalition. [ [http://www.stopwar.org.uk/images/arabicposter.pdf poster for a public meeting by the Stop the War Coalition] 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"]

Mousawi received a PhD in Political Islam from Birmingham University in 2007 [Prof. Scott Lucas was the examiner of his Ph.D. thesis: [http://www.libertas.bham.ac.uk/blogs/watchingamerica/index.htm A Tale of (British or Lebanese) Extremism: My Friend "The Radical Propagandist"] blog "Watching America" by Professor Scott Lucas, March 3, 2008] . 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" [ [http://moses.creighton.edu/JRS/2007/2007-19.html Hizbullah’s Jihad Concept] 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] and lectures on political science at AUB. [ [http://wwwlb.aub.edu.lb/~webinfo/localnewsJan08.html AUB News January 2008] ]

In October 2007, Mousawi was refused entry to Ireland on "security" grounds following a recommendation from the Gardai. [ [http://www.galwayfirst.ie/content/view/2031/948/ Lebanese TV journalist refused visa for anti-war conference] galwayfirst, 14 October 2007] The British Conservative Party tried to have Mousawi banned from Britain like Yusuf al-Qaradawi and Moshe Feiglin in February 2008, but failed. [Freedom of Information request: [http://www.thejc.com/home.aspx?ParentId=m11&SecId=11&AId=59048&ATypeId=1 Home Office silent on how Hizbollah man was given entry to UK] by Simon Rocker, The Jewish Chronicle 28/03/2008] 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 "anti-terror" Joint Intelligence Committee. [ [http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200708/cmhansrd/cm071114/debtext/71114-0005.htm David Cameron, House of Commons Hansard Debates for 14 Nov 2007] , [http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200708/cmhansrd/cm071203/text/71203w0008.htm#column_773W Mr. Amess, Oral Answers House of Commons, Monday 3 December 2007] , [http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200708/ldhansrd/text/80319-0003.htm Lord Strathclyde, House of Lords Hansard text for 19 Mar 2008] ]

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