Riad Taha

Riad Taha (1927 – 23 July 1980) was a Lebanese Shiite journalist and president of the Lebanese Publishers Association . He was assassinated when gunmen opened fire on his car. Perpetrators were never caught, but it was widely suspected that the assassination was ordered by the Syrian Intelligence. He was the head of the Lebanese Publishers Association from 1967 until his murder.

Early life Taha was born into a Shiite family in Hermel, Lebanon, in 1927.

Career Taha started as a journalist in the magazine At Talaeh in 1945 when he was 18. He also worked in the newspaper An Nidal wad Dunia . In 1947, aged 20, he established the weekly Akhbar al 'Aalam (meaning the News of the World) and was in Palestine in 1948 to cover the war there. In 1949, he established in Lebanon the Orient News Agency , one of the first ever privately owned Arab news agencies.

In 1950, he started the publication Al Ahad magazine (literally The Sunday). He was also editor of the magazine which opposed the Baghdad Pact. Taha became an advocate of the Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser during this period.

Assassination Taha was killed in Beirut in July 1980. Although there have been rumors that Syrian intelligence killed him, there is also another report, stating that Taha was killed due to the feud between his family and another Shiite family.