Yusuf al-Hani

Yusuf al-Hani (also anglicised as Joseph Hani; died 5 April 1916) was a Lebanese Maronite Arab resident of Beirut hanged by the Ottoman Empire for communicating with French diplomat François Georges-Picot in 1913.

Biography

Al-Hani was a Christian Maronite Arab and resident of Beirut, in modern Lebanon. In March 1913 he was one of six men who had signed a letter to the French consul in Beirut, François Georges-Picot, requesting French assistance to liberate Syria and Lebanon from the rule of the Ottoman Empire. The outbreak of the First World War in 1914, in which the Ottoman Empire declared war on France and the other Allies, led to the evacuation of the French consulate in Beirut. Picot was advised by the American consul, Stanley Hollis, to destroy his secret papers but refused to do so. Picot, who thought the war would last just a couple of weeks, hid his documents behind a panel in the consulate building. The French had been unaware of the capture of the secret documents until al-Hani was executed. The square where al-Hani and the others were hanged in Beirut is now known as Martyrs' Square and 6 May is commemorated as Martyrs' Day in modern-day Lebanon and Syria.