Kids’ clinic in Lebanon’s capital will close after receiving death threats
A children’s clinic in Beirut’s capital is facing closure after receiving threats and death threats.
The Lebanon-based Grace Clinic, which provides care for children from underprivileged families, announced its closure on Sunday.
It says it has been threatened by unknown individuals for several days, and that a “sickness has been caused by the use of the name ‘Grace’.”
Grace Clinic director Zaid El-Mashaw told the Lebanon Post on Monday that he was forced to take the decision after receiving “sad threats”.
“We had a very bad week with this,” he said.
“I got an anonymous phone call saying that the clinic would close, and it was about a week later that I received a letter from the police asking us to leave.”
The Lebanese Prime Minister, Saad Hariri, also warned the Lebanese people against the threats.””
It is not good that this kind of threat has been made to a place of medicine.”
The Lebanese Prime Minister, Saad Hariri, also warned the Lebanese people against the threats.
“There are people who think that by threatening to attack hospitals, they will destroy the health system.
They will destroy Lebanon,” he told Lebanese television station Al-Mayadeen on Sunday night.
“This is a serious threat.
It is a threat to the whole Lebanese nation.”
The Grace Clinic opened in March 2016, with an opening date to be set later.
El-Masri said the clinic has “no plans to reopen anytime soon”, but that he would look into whether to “make some other decisions” in light of the threats that were made.
“We have a good relationship with the police, and we are ready to take these cases, but we are not prepared to open again,” he stressed.
“There are things we can do.
If we are attacked, we will go into hiding.”
The centre also says it received death threats on social media, and was also told to “stay away from our people”.
Grace is the only Lebanese children’s hospital with a primary focus on the needs of vulnerable children, with more than 500 children under the age of five taking care of patients at the clinic.
El-Masriri has said the Lebanese government is looking into the threats, but added that “we will do whatever it takes to ensure that we do not lose any children’s lives.”
“I will ask all of our citizens to do everything possible to stop these threats,” he concluded.
A children’s clinic in Beirut’s capital is facing closure after receiving threats and death threats.The Lebanon-based Grace Clinic, which provides…
