(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to President Emile Lahoud, RSF expressed its deep concern regarding the fate of two journalists, Habib Younis and Antoine Bassil. Both men were arrested in August 2001 during roundups of anti-Syrian activists. On 10 December, they were referred to the Beirut Military Court. “These two journalists risk the death penalty […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to President Emile Lahoud, RSF expressed its deep concern regarding the fate of two journalists, Habib Younis and Antoine Bassil. Both men were arrested in August 2001 during roundups of anti-Syrian activists. On 10 December, they were referred to the Beirut Military Court. “These two journalists risk the death penalty if they are found guilty of the charges weighing against them. This is unacceptable,” stated Robert Ménard, the organisation’s secretary-general. “We are also worried about the conditions under which the trial will take place. Will the military court guarantee the respect of the defence’s rights?” he asked. Moreover, the organisation recalled that it had previously sent letters dated 21 and 27 August to President Lahoud, protesting the two journalists’ illegal arrest.
According to information collected by RSF, the two Lebanese journalists were referred to the Beirut Military Court on 10 December. Younis, editorial secretary of the Arabic-language daily “Al Hayat”‘s Lebanese office, and Bassil, radio correspondent for the Saudi network MBC, are charged with “contacts with the Israeli enemy”, “illegal entry into Israeli territory”, “disclosing information to the enemy” and “creation of an association with a view towards undermining state authority”. They risk the death penalty. The journalists were arrested on 16 and 19 August. The arrests were carried out within the context of a series of raids by army intelligence services against anti-Syrian Christian militias and sympathisers. The two arrests were carried out without arrest warrants and the journalists were interrogated without lawyers present. The houses of both journalists were searched, their personal libraries and archives were combed and their passports were seized.
