BEIRUT: Threats and violence against Lebanon-based journalists – including the torching of a production company headquarters – increased during October, a leading media watchdog said Tuesday.
Beirut-based monitor Skeyes, in its report on last month’s media violations, outlined and condemned instances of intimidation against journalists.
On Oct. 10 a deliberate fire was started at the offices of First Link, the production company twinned with Hayatona Al-Fadaiyya, a satellite television channel, which Skeyes labeled “undeniably the most dangerous violation on the local media and cultural scene.”
In addition, several reporters received death threats, including Ali Hamadeh, who was targeted by hostile messages posted on his website and Facebook page.
Journalist Maria Maalouf received death threats after the airing of “Secrets and Behind the Scenes,” on the alleged assassination attempt of Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun in Cyprus in the late 1980s.
The editor-in-chief of SaidaNet newspaper, Hilal Hibli, was subjected to threats of physical violence after the publication of an article on the abduction of a local girl.
Skeyes observed the Lebanese Army’s decision to require both local and foreign journalists to seek written permission in order to enter the northern area of Wadi Khaled, following the influx of thousands of refugees fleeing ongoing violence in neighboring Syria.
Several foreign correspondents have noted that trips to the north are now being monitored by several intelligence forces, according to the watchdog.
Last month, the National Audiovisual Media Council asked all Lebanese websites and blogs to sign up to a register it intends to set up in order to monitor online content. The move drew derision from media freedom campaigners.
“In addition, the [Council] decided that licenses for audiovisual institutions will be renewed according to what it called ‘persistent’ violations that will be perpetrated from now on,” Skeyes said.
The watchdog monitors censorship or intimidation against all publications and television channels in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Palestine, as well as film and art exhibitions.
Several Iranian movies were retracted from Beirut International Film Festival on Oct. 10, and Iranian authorities barred an Iranian director from attending the event.
Among the violations noted by Skeyes was the case of Egyptian actor Adel Imam who, on Oct. 11, was prevented from filming on location in the village of Dhour Choueir in riposte to his earlier anti-Hezbollah remarks.
On the judicial front, Baalbek MP Assem Kanso filed a defamation lawsuit against Al-Sheraa magazine editor-in-chief Hasan Sabra, according to Skeyes. The same magazine was transferred to the Publications Court, following the publication of an article on former General Fayez Karam, who was convicted of spying for Israel.
The judiciary in October suspended proceedings against the managing director of Al-Akhbar newspaper and the editor-in-chief of Al-Hadil magazine.
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