(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Minister of the Interior Elias El-Murr, RSF expressed its concern following the firing of warning shots at a team from the American news station CNN. The team was reporting in the Hermel region, in north-eastern Lebanon. RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard asked the minister “to consult with the relevant authorities […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Minister of the Interior Elias El-Murr, RSF expressed its concern following the firing of warning shots at a team from the American news station CNN. The team was reporting in the Hermel region, in north-eastern Lebanon. RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard asked the minister “to consult with the relevant authorities so that an inquiry is launched and the guilty parties are identified.”
According to information collected by RSF, on 18 June 2001, a CNN team made up of Briton M. Sadler, his German cameraman Christian Streib, a driver and Lebanese producer Nada Husseini, was the target of warning shots from unidentified gunmen. The CNN team was reporting from the Hermel region, where cannabis plants are grown. According to Sadler, the team fell into an ambush by a dozen men, who were armed with assault rifles, pistols and a rifle with telescopic sight. The men forced the team to get out of their vehicle and fired dozens of shots in every direction. The attackers then seized the journalists’ two cameras, but returned their personal belongings, which they had also taken.
