BEIRUT: Lebanese University official Antoine Khoury Harb was severely beaten by students Tuesday, a security source told The Daily Star.

He said Harb, secretary of the Faculty of Journalism at the Lebanese University, was so badly attacked that he was taken to hospital for medical x-rays.

A police unit arrived at the Faculty of Journalism in Hadath, Beirut, shortly after the 10:30 a.m. incident and promptly began an investigation into the matter. 

The source stressed, however, that the incident was not politically motivated.

Harb identified the attackers as Mohammad Qobeisi, head of the students’ committee at the LU's first branch, and a “number of committee members.”

He told police that Qobeisi and the accompanying group entered the exam room and “committed fraud.”

When Harb asked them to leave the room, they refused and beat him up, the university official said in his testimony, pointing out that the first exam had been canceled.