IPA also supports the joint statement of the Börsenverein, Frankfurter Buchmesse and IG Meinungsfreiheit on the Assassination of Lebanese Publisher Lokman Slim 

„We are shocked and deeply saddened by the murder of filmmaker and publisher Lokman Slim and we call for an international investigation into this callous murder. The international publishing community mourns a fearless, outspoken, and committed fighter for the right to freedom of expression.

In 2004, Lokman Slim and his publishing house Dar Al Jadeed participated in the Frankfurter Buchmesses invitation programme, which is funded by the Federal Foreign Office. As a co-founder of the Documentation and Research Center UMAM (https://www.umam-dr.org//about/), Lokman Slim was committed i.a. to analysis and debate regarding the recent history of Lebanon, and Syria. Together with his German partner Monika Borgmann, he made the award-winning documentaries Massacre (2004), on the perpetrators of the Sabra and Shatila massacre, and Tadmor (2016), about a torture prison run by the Assad regime.

We offer our sincere condolences to Monika Borgmann and Lokman Slim’s sister and co-founder of Dar Al Jadeed publishing house, Rasha al-Amir, as well as the entire family.”

Juergen Boos, Frankfurter Buchmesse

Alexander Skipis, Boersenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels

Juergen Horbach, Vorsitzender der Interessengruppe Meinungsfreiheit des Börsenvereins des Deutschen Buchhandels