Posts Tagged ‘Lebanon’

The paradoxes of free speech in Lebanon

November 10th, 2011

Lebanon’s media council now requires all news websites and blogs to register, amid speculation that authorities are preparing to censor the web in the wake of Syria’s uprising. Karl Sharro explores what the move means for free speech in Lebanon

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Egypt: Lebanese blogger denied entry to Egypt

September 12th, 2011

Lebanese blogger Imad Bazzi was denied entry to Egypt on 5 September, 2011, and sent back to Lebanon. Bazzi, who is also director of CyberACT — an NGO which advocates the usage of social media tools in order to create reforms in the Middle East and North African region — was told that his name “was on a list of people banned from entering at the request of a security apparatus”.

Lebanon: singer detained for defamation

July 28th, 2011

Lebanese musician Zeid Hamdan was briefly held at the prison of the Palace of Justice in Beirut on Wednesday for defaming President Michel Suleiman, urging him in a song posted on YouTube last year to “go home.” A statement posted on Hamdan’s Facebook page by his lawyer, Nizar Saghieh, noted that the musician had been investigated three times in recent weeks. He was released late on Wednesday, though Saghieh says his client faces a maximum of two years in prison if the prosecutor decides to file formal slander charges against him. According to the LA Times’ Babylon & Beyond blog, Sagieh called Hamdan’s detention “a blatant violation of the right of freedom of expression.” He added, “this increasingly obvious over-sensitivity of the regime to any form of criticism of the president is the problem of the regime and not the citizen.”

Lebanon: Festival urged not to show Iranian protest film

October 11th, 2010

State censors in Lebanon have asked Beirut International Film Festival not to show an Iranian opposition film during a visit from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Originally scheduled for screening on 13 October, the day of Ahmadinejad’s arrival, the film “Green Days” documents violent protests in Iran following last year’s disputed elections. Director Hana Makhamalbaf is the daughter of Mohsen Makhamalbaf, who is close to opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi.

Reporter dead in Israel-Lebanon border skirmish

August 3rd, 2010

Al Jazeera is reporting that Assaf Abou Rahhal, a journalist with Lebanon’s Al Akhbar newspaper, was killed today in an exchange of fire between the Lebanese Army and the Israel Defence Forces. Read more here

Shiite publishers blacklisted at Bahrain book fair

February 11th, 2010

Twenty-five Lebanese Shiite publishing houses have been barred from exhibiting books during the annual fair in Manama on 17 March 2010. Al Wassat daily newspaper reports that although a black list has been issued by the Bahraini authorities, the publishing houses are yet to be officially notified. The Bahraini Ministry of Information denies responsibility for the ban and the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights suggest it may have been issued by  the National Security Apparatus.

Saudi Arabia shuts TV station over sex row

August 11th, 2009

Saudi authorities have closed an office of an Arab TV station after it broadcast an interview with a man speaking frankly about sex and showing off erotic toys, a government official said today. Abdul-Rahman al-Hazza, spokesman for the ministry of culture and information, said the office of LBC, a Lebanese-based satellite TV station was closed because of the programme and because it was unlicensed. “The closure is indefinite,” Hazza said. The Saudi man, Mazen Abdul-Jawad, has been in detention since last Friday. Read more here

Egyptian writer prevented from travelling

June 23rd, 2009

Released political prisoner and writer Abd Al-Monem Monieb was detained in Cairo airport for 45 minutes by state security officers. Their actions prohibited him from travelling to Lebanon where he was due to publicise his book on Islam in Egypt. Read more here