2023-07-11 13:44:54
A judicial decision to imprison the presenter of the Lebanese programs, Dima Sadek
The single criminal judge in Beirut, Rosine Hujaili, issued a judicial ruling to imprison the presenter of the Lebanese programs, Dima Sadek, for a year in the lawsuit filed once morest her by the Free Patriotic Movement headed by Representative Gebran Bassil, for the crimes of defamation and provoking sectarian strife, while obligating her to pay 110 million Lebanese pounds as damages. in favor of the current.
The legal agent for Representative Gebran Bassil, lawyer Majid Boyz, commented on the verdict in a tweet on Twitter, in which he said, “Dima Sadiq, your words are not sincere, but our promise is true. Defamation, provoking sectarian strife, imprisoning you for a year, stripping you of some of your civil rights, and forcing you to pay one hundred and ten million pounds as damages for the benefit of the Free Patriotic Movement.
He concluded his speech by saying: “God willing, you will have learned.”
For her part, Dima Sadek appeared in a video clip describing the judicial decision as “a dangerous precedent in terms of freedom of the press, expression and the media,” considering that what happened “sounds a great alarm” and stressing the “continuation of the struggle.” She added, “Let’s see who will win the battle for freedoms in Lebanon in the end.”
Sadiq pointed out that the lawsuit was filed once morest her regarding 3 years ago, following she published a tweet in which she described the Free Patriotic Movement as racist and Nazi, in connection with a video spread on social media showing the assault of the companions of former MP Ziyad Aswad (he belonged to the Free Patriotic Movement) on a young man from the city of Tripoli. He was beaten in the Keserwan area, with sectarian slurs directed at him.
Sadiq indicated that “instead of arresting the aggressors who stir up sectarian strife, a lawsuit was filed once morest me,” pointing out that the head of the movement himself, Gebran Bassil, appeared in audio and video singing that he is racist.
Bassil’s legal team relied on Sadiq’s publication of the tweet via “Twitter” to refer the case to the criminal judiciary instead of the Publications Court, which legally prohibits the imprisonment of journalists and the deprivation of their freedom.
Substantial amendments were made to the Publications Law in 1994, and included provisions that stipulated the abolition of custodial penalties such as imprisonment of a journalist, and the replacement of this penalty with a financial fine, as well as the prohibition of preventive arrest and suspension of the newspaper.
For her part, Sadeq’s agent, lawyer Diala Shehadeh, said in an interview with Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, “The Public Prosecution office did not claim the crime of inciting sectarian strife, which Basil asked at the time to prosecute. However, the judge decided to convict her of it, and sentenced her to two months in prison for defamation, and two months in prison.” Imprisonment for slander, and a year for inciting sectarian strife over the same tweet,” adding: “This is a legal violation that we will have an answer to when we appeal the verdict in the next few days.”
Shehadeh believes that “issuing a verdict for the crime of inciting strife is dangerous in light of the ongoing demands for years and a broad popular movement to end political sectarianism in Lebanon and put an end to sectarian rhetoric and sectarian charging emanating from politicians,” pointing out that “it is a rare step that may not have happened before.”
And she considered that what happened was “a dangerous message to all Lebanese citizens who want to put an end to the sectarian and racist charges in political discourse and the actions of party supporters and political leaders.”
This comes at a time when the Lebanese authorities have increased the targeting of journalists through illegal summons before security services, in violation of the Lebanese Publications Law, which has begun to raise calls to amend it because it does not meet the required international standards, as the decision on issues of expression is up to the civil, not criminal, judiciary, according to international standards.
This was confirmed by the spokesperson for Amnesty International, Rina Wehbe, to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, who indicated that the laws of libel, defamation, contempt, insults, incitement and blasphemy are “unclear in Lebanese law and are excessively general,” which “makes them a weapon of choice in the hands of Authorities once morest journalists and critics.
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