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| WAN-IFRA condemns charge against Lebanese journalist | ||||
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His Excellency President Michel Suleiman President of Lebanon Beirut, Lebanon 13 November 2009 Your Excellency, We are writing on behalf of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers and the World Editors Forum, which represent 18,000 publications, 15,000 online sites and over 3,000 companies in more than 120 countries, to express our serious concern that criminal charges have been brought against a journalist for "insulting" the president. According to reports, on 9 November Simon Abou Fadel, a reporter for Al-Kalima newspaper, was charged with insulting the president after criticising his role in efforts to form a unity cabinet. The programme was broadcast by private station MTV on 4 November. If convicted on charges that include slander, contempt and impugning the dignity of the head of state, he could be jailed for up to one year. We respectfully remind you that imprisoning journalists for criticizing officials constitutes a clear breach of the right to freedom of expression, which is guaranteed by numerous international conventions, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 19 of the Declaration states: "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes the freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media, regardless of frontiers." Furthermore, we believe that a civil award of reasonable damages is adequate and appropriate relief in all proven cases of libel. Questioning officials' actions and policies is part of the proper function of an independent press and such criticism should be expected by senior political figures. We are happy to inform you that Lebanon has been chosen as the destination for our 63rd World Newspaper Congress and 17th World Editors Forum from 7 to 10 June 2010, together with our 4th Arab Free Press Forum. We expect 1,500 publishers and chief editors from all over the world to visit Beirut for these events. In proposing and selecting your country, we have argued that Lebanon is a beacon of pluralism and freedom of expression in your region. We believe that this perception would be seriously damaged if the case against Mr Fadel were to be pursued. We look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience. Yours sincerely, Gavin O'Reilly President World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers Xavier Vidal-Folch President World Editors Forum WAN-IFRA is the global organization for the world's newspapers and news publishers, with formal representative status at the United Nations, UNESCO and the Council of Europe. The organisation groups 18,000 publications, 15,000 online sites and over 3,000 companies in more than 120 countries. cc: Prime Minister Saad Hariri |
