(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to President Emile Lahoud, RSF protested the Lebanese authorities’ decision to subject the daily “As Sharq el Awsat” to advance censorship. “We are particularly concerned by this measure, which seems to indicate the General Security Department’s intention to extend its control over media,” said Robert Ménard, the organisation’s secretary-general. He […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to President Emile Lahoud, RSF protested the Lebanese authorities’ decision to subject the daily “As Sharq el Awsat” to advance censorship. “We are particularly concerned by this measure, which seems to indicate the General Security Department’s intention to extend its control over media,” said Robert Ménard, the organisation’s secretary-general. He asked the president to have this decision cancelled.
According to information collected by RSF, the Lebanese General Security Department has decided to subject “As Sharq el Awsat” to advance censorship. The London-based Saudi Arabian daily will now have to obtain authorisation every day before it can export and distribute copies of each issue. This measure, which on 3 and 4 January 2002 caused several hours’ delay in the newspaper’s distribution, follows the publication of an article on 31 December 2001 about an attempt to assassinate President Lahoud in Monte Carlo. The president’s press office denied the information, which it claimed was “entirely fabricated”, and the daily formally apologised.
