«Who Killed Whom?» is a public database that documents political assassinations in Lebanon and beyond. This record was created and named by Lokman Slim, the co-founder of UMAM Documentation & Research, as part of his work on political assassinations before his ultimate death as a result of this very phenomenon. Given that political assassinations are at the core of the Lokman Slim Foundation's mission, «Who Killed Whom?» stands as the primary resource for the Foundation’s efforts in documentation, research, and advocacy. 

«Political assassinations» is one term among many for politically motivate killings, also called «targeted killings» or «extrajudicial executions». However, these different terms point to the same phenomenon, the killing of specific individuals for political reasons, regardless of the legality of the act. This variation in terminology is a result of the interplay between the dynamics of international relations on one hand, and interpretations of international or domestic laws on the other.

Our goal is to document politically motivated killings in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region. To achieve this, we rely on open-source materials including newspapers, declassified archives, and secondary literature. Systematic documentation hinges upon secured funding and the allocation of adequate human resources for each respective country: to lay the foundation for our work, and driven by practical considerations, we have commenced our efforts in Lebanon. Our documentation of political assassinations will gradually expand to include other countries within the region.

The significance of this effort lies in creating a reliable resource accessible to researchers, journalists, activists, political decision-makers, and all those interested in this problem. Its primary aim is to illustrate the magnitude of the insidious political violence that these killings are charged with, and to offer insights into its political and geopolitical implications. The medium-term objective is for the Lokman Slim Foundation to become a regional observatory for political assassinations and in seeking accountability and justice for the victims of these acts. 

The current database allows sorting based on criteria such as country, year, profession, place, and method of murder, and others. These criteria can be cross-referenced, resulting into categories and sub-categories that generate a fact-based typology. Short biographies of the victims are being created, in which a summary of their backgrounds and the circumstances of their assassinations, based on available information, are provided. The biographies include links to the open sources used, as well as court case updates where possible.

While the database of political assassinations aims to include all victims of these acts, the Lokman Slim Foundation advocates for the rule of law, which preserves the safety and liberty of citizens and ensures their right to freedom of conscience, speech, and political action. We therefore take a clear stand for intellectuals, journalists, writers, artists, philosophers, researchers, academics, doctors, human rights activists, artists, cartoonists, and all those whose only means of political expression was through their pen or voice and who were killed for defending their political beliefs. These individuals are prominently featured on our database's homepage. Like them, our only mean of political expression is our voice. and our mission is to ensure their names do not fade into oblivion.  

Uncovering this under-explored field of political violence is a minefield. This is primarily due to the conflicting narratives that are likely to arise from it. Nevertheless, this stands as the central objective of our undertaking: to stimulate debates on political assassinations and to challenge this very insidious form of political violence. Our purpose is to deepen understanding of its profound and devastating ramifications on Arab societies, whose intellectual elites have been decimated over the decades, and whose losses have hindered the rise and development of alternative political projects within a democratic framework.