Lebanon

(HRW/IFEX) – The following is a Human Rights Watch press release: **Updates IFEX alert of 12 October 1999** TRIAL OF FAMOUS LEBANESE SINGER TO BEGIN Marcel Khalifa Faces Three Years in Prison (New York, November 2, 1999) — The criminal prosecution of the internationally known Lebanese singer and composer Marcel Khalifa is a blatant violation […]

(HRW/IFEX) – The following is an 8 October 1999 Human Rights Watch press release: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DROP LEGAL PROCEEDINGS AGAINST LEBANESE SINGER Marcel Khalifa Faces Three Years in Prison (New York, October 8, 1999) –Human Rights Watch today condemned efforts in Lebanon to prosecute the internationally known singer and composer Marcel Khalifa because one […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – CPJ has expressed grave concern about the case of Cosette Elias Ibrahim, a Lebanese journalism student and freelance reporter who was abducted by Israeli forces in the town of Rumaish in Israeli-occupied south Lebanon. **Updates IFEX alert of 14 September 1999** On or about 2 September 1999, Ibrahim, a student at the Lebanese […]

(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Lebanese Prime Minister Salim Hoss, RSF has expressed its concern about legal proceedings launched against individuals in charge of the daily newspaper “Al-Bayrak” and the magazine “The Lebanon Report”. Without commenting on the substance of the matter, RSF expressed “its concern about a procedure which might lead to the […]

(RSF/IFEX) – Further to its 12 February 1999 letter, RSF is vigorously protesting the abduction of Mahmoud Jalloul, a cameraman with the official television station Télé Liban, on 11 February. **Updates IFEX alert of 12 February 1999** The Lebanese Security Services are allegedly implicated in this violation of the basic rights of every Lebanese citizen. […]

(RSF/IFEX) – In a 12 February 1999 letter to the Prime Minister of Lebanon, RSF expressed concern at news of the abduction of a cameraman from the state television channel Télé-Liban. According to RSF’s information, on 11 February, Mahmoud Jalloul was abducted by unknown assailants, in front of his wife who was accompanying him to […]

(WAN/IFEX) – The following is a 24 November 1998 WAN press release on the occasion of its Board meeting in Beirut, Lebanon, 23 to 24 November: Beirut, Lebanon, 24 November 1998 For immediate release Publishers Ask Lebanese Prime Minister To Overturn Press Law The World Association of Newspapers (WAN), in a meeting with Lebanese Prime […]

(RSF/IFEX) – According to information made available by RSF on 24 July 1998, the Beirut military tribunal has sentenced Pierre Attalah, a journalist with “An-Nahar”, to three years in prison. He is accused of having “visited without permission an enemy country and having shown contempt for judicial and security authorities.” He must also pay a […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – On 23 February 1998, Judge Said Mirzaa charged Charles Ayyoub, the owner of “Al-Diyar”, and Youssef Howayyek, the paper’s director, with “defaming” President Elias Hrawi. The charge, filed under Decree 104 (1977), related to a column published in the 15 October 1997 edition entitled “Field of the Troika” in which Ayyoub stated that […]

During his tour of the Middle East, RSF has written to French President Jacques Chirac in order to draw his attention to the organisation’s concerns over the recent reorganisation of the broadcasting system in Lebanon. **Updates IFEX alert dated 19 September 1996** While RSF understands the Lebanese government’s wish to reorganise the broadcasting sector and […]

Three employees with the opposition daily “Al-Diyar” — editor- in-chief Sheril Ayyoub, director Youssef Howeyyek and cartoonist Elie Saliba — are currently being prosecuted for vaguely-worded offences under both the Lebanese Publications Law and the Penal Code. The charges against them include “defaming and soiling the honour of the president of the republic and the […]

On 17 September 1996, the Lebanese government gave broadcasting licences to four privately-owned television and eleven radio stations, rejecting the applications of 47 other broadcasters, who will have to refrain from broadcasting political programs as of 18 September and cease operating completely after 30 November. Minister of Information Farid Mekari, however, said the 47 were […]

On 28 June 1995, Beirut’s Publications Court sentenced Hassan Sabra, the publisher of “Al-Shira’” magazine and Ghazi al-Maqhur, the weekly’s managing editor, to one month in prison each. The two were convicted of publishing “material that was damaging to the person and dignity of the head of state and that contained statements slandering him and […]