Bint Jbeil: The Funeral of Nadine Jouni and Between Politics and Religious Institutions

Many who came to Bint Jbeil to participate in the funeral ceremony on the week after the passing of Nadine Jouni, who died in a tragic car accident, were surprised to find that the location of the ceremony was changed from the local “Husseiniyya” to a corner close to the parental home of Nadine. This caused them to wonder what prompted the parents to implement such a change.

While one relative justified scantly what happened saying: “It is better this way because it allows more friends and family to participate in the ceremony.” A source told Janoubia the true reason for what happened. They said: “Some political party affiliated members communicated with the family on Saturday morning, and advised them that in order to use the facility for the ceremony, they must not adhere to any criticism of religious figures or the establishment. In addition, they must maintain a level of discourse that is suitable to the occasion which should include a regular sermon about the life of Imam el-Hussein.” They added: “They also requested that they review any speech prepared by the family before hand to make sure it does not violate the conditions… indeed this happened on Saturday afternoon as a security official arrived at the premises and reiterated the conditions required for the ceremony.”

This lead the family of the deceased to reconsider the location of the ceremony, and so they held it on around the block in open air. The source continued: “The conditions may have been set by the Islamic Shiite High Council. The institution that has caused Nadine plenty of struggle when it came to custody of her young child which she was deprived of after her divorce. She was prevented from seeing him which caused her to fight towards changing the custody laws that are controlled by the council.”

Nadine Jouni was one of the main voices behind a popular media campaign to change civil status laws after she was prevented from seeing her child in which many organizations and institutions that defend equality and women’s rights participated in. This caused her to become a target for religious institutions especially the Islamic Shiite High Council. This might be what has caused the institution and the political parties that surround it to use the death of Nadine Jouni and prevent her ceremony to occur and everyone involved to participate.

These harsh conditions were placed as a way to prevent her friends and family from achieving what she in her life could not, and that is to raise the voice against the hegemony of the religious institutions on all people in their life, and even after their death.”