Human Rights Watch (HRW) Urges Release Of Ahmad Amhaz Who Criticized Lebanon Officials/The prime minister’s a donkey’: Lebanese activist faces jail for animal comments
Human Rights Watch (HRW) Urges Release Of Young Man Who Criticized Lebanon Officials Agence France Presse/Naharnet/March 27/17/
A rights group on Monday slammed Lebanese authorities for detaining and charging a man over a Facebook post critical of public officials including President Michel Aoun. Human Rights Watch said activist Ahmad Amhaz’s arrest was part of a “troubling pattern.” “The authorities should free Ahmad Amhaz and drop the charges against him, and parliament should repeal vague and overbroad laws that criminalize free speech,” said HRW’s deputy Middle East director Lama Fakih. Amhaz was detained on March 21, apparently over a February Facebook post that criticized Lebanon’s president, premier and speaker of parliament. On Monday, he appeared before a judge who issued a formal arrest warrant, said Ayman Mhanna, director of Skeyes, a press freedom NGO. “This is the first time someone is detained pre-trial. This is why we’re very concerned,” he told AFP. “What’s also worse is the head of the bar association issued a gag order against the (defense) lawyer, who can’t talk to the media.”Lebanese law criminalizes libel and defamation of public officials, and those found guilty of insulting the president, flag or the national emblem face up to two years in jail. “Laws that allow imprisonment in response to criticism of individuals or government officials are incompatible with Lebanon’s international obligations to protect freedom of expression,” HRW said, adding that the terms “libel”, “defamation” and “insult” were ill-defined in Lebanese law.
“We think this is very dangerous,” added Mhanna.”This is not about defending insults. It’s that issues of libel, slander and defamation should be seen as civil cases.”Lebanese authorities have periodically detained and even sentenced citizens for criticizing public officials, but the accused are often pardoned or have their sentences commuted. Last June, a prominent lawyer was arrested after accusing government officials of possible complicity in a sex trafficking ring.And in 2014, a Lebanese web developer was sentenced to two months in jail for insulting then president Michel Suleiman on Twitter, although the sentence was eventually overturned.
‘The prime minister’s a donkey’: Lebanese activist faces jail for animal comments Olivia Alabaster/Middle East Eye/Monday 27 March 2017/The arrest is part of an increasing suppression of media freedom, local watchdog says. A Lebanese activist is facing jail time for a Facebook post in which he compared the country’s leaders to various animals, part of an increase in such cases since the election of the new president, according to a media watchdog.
Ahmad Amhaz has been in jail since his arrest on 21 March for a Facebook post in February in which he likened Prime Minister Saad Hariri to a donkey, Speaker Nabih Berri to a crocodile, and President Michel Aoun to a species yet to be discovered.
“We are very worried by the multiplication of these cases since the election of the new president,” Ayman Mhanna, director of media watchdog group SKeyes told MEE. Former army general Aoun, the leader of the Free Patriotic Movement, was confirmed as president in October 2016, after a long presidential vacuum in the country. In December, a student was arrested for a Facebook post which also criticised Aoun. “SKeyes believes that any issue related to libel, slander and defamation should [be heard as] civil cases and absolutely not criminal cases,” Mhanna added. For human rights campaigners, the content of the post is irrelevant. “This issue is not the content of the post itself – short of hate speech or inciting violence, the idea of locking someone up for criticising politicians on Facebook is ludicrous,” Bassam Khawaja, Lebanon researcher at Human Rights Watch, told MEE. “He shouldn’t have spent the last week in jail, let alone be facing up to two years in prison.”A judge on Monday confirmed the charges against Amhaz, which was immediately appealed by his defence team.
But, hours later, the judge ruled that Amhaz must remain in detention and the case will now move forward to trial. ‘He shouldn’t have spent the last week in jail, let alone be facing up to two years in prison’
“Even if Ahmad is to be tried, this can happen without the need to lock him behind bars. This is a very negative precedent that will contribute to shrinking the space for free expression in Lebanon,” Mhanna said.
Khawaja agreed that the issue of pre-trial detention was worrisome for freedom in Lebanon. “There is a broader problem with pre-trail detention in Lebanon, and so for example here, even if he is released and charges are dropped, he will still have spent a week in jail for no reason, which sends a message that speaking out will carry a heavy price, even if you are not convicted.”
