Majid Muhammad

Majid Muhammad (ماجد محمد)
Majid Muhammad's identity card photo, taken in 1977.
Born	(1909-05-22)22 May 1909 Dar Al Hamma, Salamati Trade Dependancy
Died	24 March 1981(1981-03-24) (aged 71) Jabiyah, Gassasinia
Nationality	Salamati
Occupation	Journalist
Military career
Allegiance	Salamat
Service/branch	Salamati Independence Army
Years of service	1952-1969
Rank	Colonel

Majid Muhammad (Arabic :ماجد محمد)(May 22 1909 - March 24 1981), was a colonel of the Salamati Independence Army and a journalist, exiled of Salamat on June 4 1980 for opposing the regime of Jalil Al Kharrabi. He is known for having been assassinated by the Kharrabi regime in Gassasinia, his death sparking intense diplomatic tensions throughout Anteria.

Assassination of Majid Muhammad

Timeline

Background

Majid Muhammad had lived in Gassasinia as a refugee for less than a year after having been exiled from Salamat by the Kharrabi regime. Shortly after arriving in Gassasinia he accepted a position at Hamma Sghira, an anti-Kharrabi Salamati dissident newspaper, and he settled into an apartment in the Bab al-Haima District in northern Jabiyah.

Prior to the assassination, the assassins had threatened to bomb the Hamma Sghira offices over the phone if they did not cease publication of their paper. As a result of the bomb threats, the Jabiyah City Police Force dispatched armed officers to guard Hamma Sghira's offices, forcing them to abandon previous plans to carry out a bombing.

In the months leading up to his assassination, Majid Muhammad was stalked by his assassins who slowly built up an accurate log of his daily schedule. They figured out that Majid Muhammad set off from his home every day at 6:00 AM, arriving at the Bab al-Haima Station where he boarded the south-bound Line 3 service of the Jabiyah Subway to the Hamma Sghira office in New Jabiyah. Only a week before the assassination, Greater Jabiyah Police had spoken to Majid after he reported being followed by suspicious figures on his way home.

Two weeks before the assassination, the assassins had bought a 22 calibre revolver and 12 rounds of ammunition from an arms smuggler.

Assassination

The assassins had attempted to catch up to Majid Muhammad before he reached the station so that they could assassinate him somewhere less crowded where they were less likely to be caught by bystanders. However, Majid Muhammad had set off ten minutes earlier than usual and by the time they had reached the destination where they planned to shoot Muhammad, he was nowhere to be seen.

At 6:08 AM a black car pulled up outside Bab al-Haima Station and one of the assassins, identified as Saleh Gharbi, exited the car with the 22 calibre revolver tucked under his shirt. His partner Lamine Sanhadji remained in the car as the escape driver.

At the time of the shooting, Gharbi was seen jogging into the station by bystanders. He searched around desperately for Majid for a few seconds, until he saw him at the ticket barrier where he promptly drew the gun from out of his waistband and opened fire. Gharbi fired off six shots from his revolver, hitting Majid twice: once in the chest and once in the head. Two bystanders were also injured by stray rounds, receiving injuries to the chest and arms. Gharbi then ran back to Sanhadji's car which sped off away from the scene.

Hospital Treatment

Paramedics from the Jabiyah Metropolitan Fire Service arrived twenty minutes later, at around 6:30 AM. When the paramedics arrived, Majid was reportedly unconscious but still breathing. He was taken to the St. Luke Red Cross Hospital in Nasidariyah District where he underwent major surgery in a last-ditch effort to save him. When Majid Muhammad arrived at the hospital at 6:50 AM, lead surgeon Dr. Michel Ammar believed there was still a chance for Majid Muhammad to be saved. However, despite the surgeon's best efforts Muhammad reportedly took a turn for a worse during the surgery and was declared dead at 8:23 AM.

Suspects & Police Manhunt

Majid Muhammad's assassins were identified as 39 year old Saleh Gharbi and 48 year old Lamine Sanhadji, both Salamati nationals who worked for the Salamati Department of Intelligence and Security. Saleh Gharbi had been designated as the gunman, while Lamine Sanhadji had been designated as the getaway driver.

At 10:42, almost five hours after the shooting, firefighters of the Jabiyah Metropolitan Fire Service responded to reports of a car on fire in the secluded parking lot of an abandoned hotel in Nasidariyah District. Based on eyewitness accounts of the car's appearance and number plate, the burning car was quickly linked back to the shooting.

It is believed that Gharbi and Sanhadji had arrived at the abandoned hotel's parking lot around an hour before firefighters arrived at the scene. In preparation for the assassination, they had stashed two separate vehicles at the parking-lot. After arriving at the parking lot, they set the original car on-fire before splitting up.

Almost immediately following the shooting, Greater Jabiyah Police conducted an extensive manhunt for the perpetrators of the assassination with the assistance of the Republic of Gassasinia Police Force and Ministry of Transport Police. Gharbi escaped to a safehouse located in Nasidariyah District where many Salamati immigrant workers lived. Two days after the assassination on the 26th of March, Gharbi's safehouse was raided by armed police officers after an anonymous tip-off, during which Gharbi exchanged shots with officers and sustained several gunshot injuries to the abdomen and both arms. Gharbi subsequently surrendered and was taken by paramedics to St. Luke Red Cross Hospital (ironically the same hospital where Majid Muhammad had himself been treated before dying).

Due to the fact that Sanhadji had stayed in the car during the assassination, there were few reliable eyewitness reports of Sanhadji's appearance. As such, by the time Greater Jabiyah Police identified Sanhadji as the driver of the getaway vehicle, he had already escaped the country and returned to Salamat.

Trial & Sentencing

The City Law Courts Building in Tikhus District functions as the main venue for High Court proceedings in Bisouri Province, along with proceedings of the Criminal Court.

Gharbi and the other suspects were tried before the High Court of Gassasinia at the City Law Courts Building. High Court judge Mrs. Haifa Nasrallah presided over the case.

On the 5th of October 1981 Gharbi was sentenced by to life imprisonment without the chance of parole; the most serious sentence that can be imposed under Gassasinian Law.

Aftermath

The murder would create a diplomatic crisis, both between Salamat and Gassasinia and the international community. Two weeks later, most nations agreed to impose an embargo on Salamat.

Sanhadji would then live a silent life in Salamat, and the Salamati government, in an attempt to warm the very strained relations between the two countries, would claim in September 1981 that Sanhadji was executed. However, it was discovered in 1993 that this claim was false, and that Sanhadji had remarried during his presumed death.

Two other persons were arrested by the Gassasinian police for their complicity in the crime ; TBA, which sold them the pistol and the ammunitions, would be sentenced to 15 years of prison in Gassasinia. TBA, rented them the car, and was accounted as a complice in the crime. He was sentenced to 10 years of prison.

Saleh Gharbi would be held at Lawdada Prison, a Category D men's prison located in Hammam Province, until his death on September 21 2020 from lung cancer. Sanhadji died in his hometown of Sidi Ghalmat on April 7 2010 from natural causes.