February 4, 2021: The Appeal Public Prosecutor in the south, Judge Raheef Ramadan, assigned the forensic physician Dr. Afif Khafaja to examine the body and car of Lokman Slim.

February 4, 2021: The Appeal Public Prosecutor in the south of Lebanon Judge Raheef Ramadan, instructed the Information Branch to conduct a full camera survey to find out the route of Lokman Slim’s car before his assassination, and to extract and analyze the “data” of his cell phone.

February 11, 2021: The Appellate Public Prosecutor in the south, Judge Raheef Ramadan, chaired, in his office at the Palace of Justice in Sidon, an expanded security meeting with the leaders of the security and military services in the south, in order to follow up the course of investigations in the murder of the activist Lokman Slim. During the meeting, “it was confirmed the pursuit of investigations and the total coordination between the security services to reveal the perpetrators."

April 28, 2021: The office of the Minister of Interior and Municipalities in the caretaker government, Muhammad Fahmy, pointed out, in the case of the assassination of Lokman Slim, that “the Lebanese security services didn’t find anything new” and asked “to provide the security services with any information that may help in the investigation”.

May 18, 2021: The Appellate Public Prosecutor in the south, Judge Raheef Ramadan, filed a claim in the murder of Lokman Slim that happened on February 4 in Al-Adousiya, against anonymous persons who kidnapped Slim by force of arms and killed him with unlicensed military weapons, pursuant to Articles 569 and 549 of the Penal Code and Article 72 of Weapons Law, and ordered to issue every memorandum required for the investigation to identify and arrest the perpetrators. The case was referred first to the investigating judge in the south, Marcel Haddad.

May 19, 2021: The Public Prosecutor, Judge Ghassan Oweidat, submitted a request to the Criminal Court of Cassation - Chamber Six, to transfer the case file launched before the Investigation Department in South Lebanon, according to application No. 2094/2021, to the Investigation Department in Beirut, based on the provisions of Article 340 MG. He stated that the investigation and trial in the case of kidnapping and murdering the late Lokman Slim in the south may constitute a cause for destabilizing security or a threat to public safety, given the political entanglement in the region and the geographical location of the court, especially that the risk of using investigation or trial procedures in the aforementioned case to tamper internal security remains present in the light of the general situation in the country, especially in the south.

June 17, 2021: In the presence of the representative of the Public Prosecution, the Criminal Court of Cassation - Sixth Chamber, chaired by Judge Suhail Al-Harakeh as President and Judges Francois Elias and Fadi Al-Aridi as advisors, issued a decision approving the request of the Public Prosecutor at the Court of Cassation, and referred the file to the Public Prosecutor at the Court of Cassation to proceed according to law.

June 18, 2021: The Public Prosecutor’s Office at the Court of Cassation referred to the Appeal Public Prosecution in Beirut the file of the murder of the activist and political writer Lokman Slim, and the file was referred to Beirut’s first investigative judge, Charbel Abu Samra.

May 12, 2023: Al-Jadeed TV, in its program “Down with the Rule of the Corrupt”, reported news about Beirut Investigating Judge Charbel Abou Samra referring a letter to the Public Prosecutor at the Court of Cassation, requesting that the German authorities provide any cameras and documents in their possession that could be useful to the investigation…

On September 7, 2023, the website “Al-Modon” reported that the First Investigating Judge in Beirut, Charbel Abou Samra, recused himself from pursuing the investigation into the assassination of Lokman Slim for personal reasons. Abou Samra’s request was referred to the First President of the Court of Appeal, Judge Habib Rizkallah, in order to examine his recusal decision and the “excuses” or reasons that Abou Samra had explained and presented to Judge Rizkallah.

It is noted that First Investigating Judge Charbel Abu Samra was to be referred to retirement on November 9, 2023. The First President of the Court of Appeal in Beirut, Judge Habib Rizkallah, exercising his authority, appointed Judge Bilal Halawi to assume the duties of First Investigating Judge in Beirut on an interim basis, succeeding Judge Charbel Abu Samra, who was referred to retirement on November 10, 2023 upon reaching the legal age. Halawi took over from Abou Samra to continue the investigation and prosecution in the case of Lokman Slim’s assassination.

On December 5, 2024, an indictment decision was issued by Acting First Investigating Judge in Beirut, Bilal Halawi, in which he limited the charges to “unknown persons being behind the kidnapping and liquidation of Lokman Slim, and the issuance of a permanent search warrant to identify them,” citing the “absence of evidence regarding the identity of the perpetrators to arrest and bring them to justice.”

Judge Halawi stated in his indictment that “the investigations did not lead to identifying the perpetrators or suspects, and that the judiciary had sought assistance from the cameras of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) operating in the South. However, the analysis of their contents showed that the cameras installed at the international mission’s posts do not capture their surroundings, and therefore, there are no surveillance recordings outside the posts.”

On March 20, 2025, Judge Randa Kfoury, prior to her retirement, issued a judicial ruling transferring the case, both in substance and in form, from Beirut’s First Investigating Judge, Bilal Halawi, to another judge to be appointed by the competent judicial authority.

The First President of the Court of Appeal in Beirut, Judge Habib Rizkallah, appointed Beirut Investigating Judge Rola Safir to take over the investigation into the assassination of political activist Lokman Slim.

The “battle for justice” continues...