(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 […]
(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 “violations of the constitution
have become normal” governmental practices and are “tolerated by President
Hrawi.” If convicted, both men face up to two years in prison and fines
ranging from 50 million ($33,000) to 100 million ($66,000) Lebanese pounds.
Also charged with “defamation” was Elie Saliba, an “Al-Diyar” cartoonist,
for a cartoon published in the paper on 30 September 1997 which challenged
the independence of the judiciary in Lebanon. Like Ayyoub and Howayyek,
Saliba has been charged under Decree 104 and faces up to two years in prison
in addition to fines reaching 100 million pounds ($66,000).
Another target of legal harassment has been the daily “Kifah al-Arabi”. In
January 1998, an appeals court upheld a defamation conviction against Walid
Husseini, the paper’s editor-in-chief, who was fined 50 million pounds
($33,000) for “insulting” Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd. Husseini’s conviction
concerned a 1995 editorial which criticized the Saudi monarch. CPJ is aware
of at least one other criminal defamation suit pending against “Kifah
al-Arabi” regarding an article it published criticizing Prime Minister Rafiq
al-Hariri and the state’s relations with Saudi Arabia.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to authorities:
Lebanon’s defamation statutes to ensure the elimination of the criminal
prosecution of journalists
shielding themselves from public scrutiny
Appeals To
His Excellency Rafiq al-Hariri
Prime Minister, Minister of Finance and
Minister of Post and Telecommunications
Office of the Prime Minister
Grand Serail
Rue des Arts et Metiers
Sanayeh, Beirut
Republic of Lebanon
Fax: +961 1 200 469 / 354 318 / 862 001His Excellency Bahij Tabbara
Minister of Justice
Ministry of Justice
Palais de Justice, Beirut
Republic of Lebanon
Fax: +961 1 422 957 (say “Fax, please”)
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
