?Is child abduction considered a crime punishable by law

?Does such a law also extend to street children

Does the public care about the disappearance of nearly 400 street children, kidnapped by an unknown abductor

Can this news deeply trouble parents around the world, or do street children fall under a different legal category, given that they have no parents, or their parents have abandoned them

The streets of Beirut were once filled with wandering children who earned their livelihood by selling chewing gum, flowers, paper napkins, lottery tickets, and shoe-shining. Nobody paid them any heed, and they were subjected to the harsh realities of life, including neglect and violence. Some of them even disappeared under mysterious circumstances.

One day, the city’s residents noticed that all these children had suddenly vanished from the Martyrs’ Square, Burj Square, Raouche, Bank Street, Khan al-Bayad steps, Roxi Cinema area, the Opera, and the Amphitheater. The majority of people didn’t care, but the parents who had children among them became distraught and shocked. They began searching for their missing children everywhere, reporting their disappearances. Not because these children were their apple of their eyes, but because they were their source of livelihood. Strangely, the parents didn’t know where or how their children had disappeared.

The search and investigation continued for this strange incident in which around 400 children disappeared simultaneously. It was discovered that the abductor was a wealthy man who had not been blessed with children of his own. Every time he walked the streets and saw these children begging for their daily bread, his sorrow for them grew, as did his anger towards their parents for depriving them of education and basic human rights. He wanted to teach the parents a lesson and save the children from their plight.

Of course, this incident did not occur in our time; it happened in the 1920s, in 1922. The abductor of the children was the late Rashid Beydoun, who later became a deputy, a defense minister, and one of the figures of Lebanon’s independence. What he did at that time was a form of rebellion against the feudal system prevailing back then, which prioritized the interests of landlords over the rest of society. He believed that this system denied the children the right to education and basic human rights. So, he wanted to teach their parents a lesson and rescue the children from their plight.

Rashid Beydoun was born in 1889, and his family originally hailed from Syria before settling in Beirut. However, circumstances prevented him from pursuing higher education. He studied in Beirut’s elementary schools and the American School in Sidon. He co-founded the Islamic Workers’ Charitable Association, which aimed to help the poor. He later established the Workers’ Elementary School to provide educational opportunities for the underprivileged. Rashid Beydoun believed in spreading knowledge and awareness throughout all segments of society, without discrimination.

Afterward, he entered the political arena and ran for parliament as a deputy for Beirut in 1937. He held several ministerial positions, including the Minister of Justice, Minister of Post, Telegraph, and Telephone, and Minister of Defense. He was at the forefront of the struggle for Lebanon’s independence from the French Mandate, using various means, with the most prominent being the weapon of knowledge, awareness, and social consciousness. However, he retired from politics in his later years.

He married the Syrian lady Nazmia Ashamma, but they did not have children together. Rashid Beydoun passed away in 1971 after a battle with illness. Now, do our societies remember men like him, who could make a difference and be role models for today’s youth