Akouri, Tawk to Speak at Hariri Memorial Service in Dearborn This Weekend

(DEARBORN)...Former Washington, DC Advisor John Akouri and Acting Consul General of Detroit Bachir Tawk will address a memorial service this weekend in honor of Rafic Hariri. According to the Detroit Free Press, up to 1000 people are expected to attend in Dearborn, Michigan to commemorate the third anniversary of the assassination of the late former Prime Minister of Lebanon and his companions. Akouri, who knew Hariri during his frequent visits to Capitol Hill (click here) will talk of his time spent with the late leader in our nation's capital. The solemn tribute is a reflection of how closely the politics of Lebanon are followed in Michigan, home to one of the largest Lebanese immigrant communities outside the Middle East. Hundreds of metro Detroiters have benefited from university scholarships that Hariri funded.

The memorial service will consist of prayers and remembrance of Hariri 's legacy and his vision for Lebanon and the Lebanese people. The annual event is hosted by a group of Lebanese expatriates in the state of Michigan that rushed to the beat of the tragedy and the disaster that resulted in the killing of Hariri. An assassination, they say, that shook the country and the hearts and souls of its citizens who believed in this great man, in his humanity and his selfless acts of giving. The group declares Hariri's assassination was an attempt to assassinate Lebanon’s national unity. And as Lebanese expatriates and Lebanese Americans, they seek to honor and preserve his memory and follow in his footsteps and vision to build and develop a free, sovereign and independent Lebanon.