When last week the Wikileaks founder Julian Assange announced he was to write his autobiography in a bid to fund the costs of his defence against allegations of sexual assault made by two women in Sweden, speculation about the possible contents went into overdrive.
Of more immediate interest, though, was his statement that he had signed book deals worth more than US$1.5million (Dh5.5m) for an account of his life.
"I don't want to write this book, but I have to," he told The Sunday Times. "I have already spent £200,000 for legal costs and I need to defend myself and keep WikiLeaks afloat."
Assange said he would receive $800,000 from Alfred A Knopf, his American publisher, while a deal with his British publisher, Canongate, is said to be worth $500,000.
While this may help keep Assange afloat, it isn't a particularly generous deal when compared with other recent hotly anticipated autobiographies from political figures. Tony Blair received US$7,000,000 for A Journey, which was published by Random House last summer. Blair said he would donate his advance plus all royalties to the soldiers' charity, the Royal British Legion. Seven million dollars was also the rumoured pay-off for George W Bush's tome Decision Points, which had, by last week, sold over two million copies since its release in late November.
Both Blair and Bush were beaten though, by 2009's hot memoir, Sarah Palin's Going Rogue, which reportedly brought her a deal worth anywhere between $7m and $11m. Still, Assange can comfort himself with the thought that the film rights for Wikileaks: The Movie must be worth a fortune.
Forced Deportations
While the Lebanese government has deported a number of refugees back to Syria since 2011, the latest round is the first en-mass campaign of its kind, say the Access Center for Human Rights, a non-governmental organization which monitors the conditions of Syrian refugees in Lebanon.
“In the past, the Lebanese General Security was responsible for the forced deportation operations of refugees, after forcing them to sign papers stating that they wished to return to Syria of their own free will. Now, the Lebanese army, specifically military intelligence, is responsible for the security operation,” said Mohammad Hasan, head of ACHR.
In just the first four months of 2023 the number of forced deportations is nearly double that of the entirety of 2022.
Since the beginning of 2023, ACHR has reported 407 forced deportations – 200 of which occurred in April alone.
In comparison, just 154 people were forcfully deported in 2022.
Violence
Instances of violence against Syrian refugees are not uncommon.
Just last month, security camera footage of men violently attacking and stabbing an employee at a mini-market went viral. The store’s employees had engaged in a verbal altercation with the men who had come to enforce an order to shutter shops, following the announcement of a municipal curfew for Syrian refugees.
“They thought they were Syrian,” said the mayor of the Nahr el Bared municipality, Charbel Bou Raad, of the attackers.
It later emerged the beaten employees were Lebanese. But the video was an exemplary instance of violence at a time when anti-Syrian rhetoric is particularly heated as Lebanese politicians call for the return of Syrian refugees to Syria.
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