The big picture: the mothers of Beirut’s disappeared

Some 104 foreign people were taken hostage in Lebanon between 1982 and 1990, at least eight of whom died in captivity. What’s sometimes forgotten is the far greater number of Lebanese who went missing during the war: an estimated 17,000 people abducted by forces on all sides of the conflict, never to return. Some disappeared without a trace; others were rumoured to have been detained in Lebanon or across the border in Syria. Today, more than 100 suspected mass graves have been mapped around the country by NGOs; the government has done little to shed light on the situation.

This photograph by Ali Jarekji – taken from a new book marking 40 years of Reuters photojournalism – shows relatives of kidnap victims at a 1985 protest at the Galerie Semaan crossing, which divided Beirut between the Muslim majority west of the city and the mainly Christian east. The protests had been raging for several days, with cars set on fire at key intersections and gunmen freely roaming the streets.

No less formidable were the women at the demonstrations, some wielding Kalashnikovs, others clubs and sticks, demanding information about the fate of their loved ones. The chances of uncovering any facts, let alone securing the return of the abductees, were vanishingly slim, though many relatives clung on to threads of hope, even decades afterwards. One mother of a 23-year-old man kidnapped in 1983 while driving a truck full of vegetables to Beirut expressed a dying wish to her daughters many years later, as reported by the Guardian. “If I die before your brother comes back, come knock on my grave,” she told them. “Come knock on my grave when he returns.” 

In the Moment: 40 Years of Reuters Photojournalism, edited by Alexia Singh, is published by Thames & Hudson

Photograph by Ali Jarekji