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On Tuesday, journalist Dima Sadek revealed through her Twitter account that she was sentenced to one year in prison in the lawsuit filed against her by the head of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), Gebran Bassil.
Sadek tweeted: “Gebran Bassil managed to obtain a judicial decision from the criminal court to imprison me for one year without suspension, in a ruling by Judge Rosine Hojeily, in an unprecedented act. Yes, in Lebanon, journalists are now being imprisoned in defamation and slander lawsuits.”
“Of course, I will appeal, and the struggle goes on,” Sadek added.
The lawsuit was filed after Sadek had issued statements in which she criticized the FPM youth’s behavior by labeling them racist and nazi-like.
On its part, the FPM posted a statement saying, “Today, the Lebanese judiciary defended the Free Patriotic Movement by convicting Dima Sadek of defamation, slander, and incitement of sectarianism.”
Under the ruling, Sadek is sentenced to one year in prison, stripped of her civil rights, and fined 110 million Lebanese pounds.
In a video posted on her twitter account, Sadek said the lawsuit came after an incident in Tripoli where young FPM supporters physically attacked a man named Zakaria al-Masri, forcing him to say, “God and Aoun, Aoun is Tripoli’s god,” an incident that was registered and documented in an official judicial complaint.
In her tweet, Sadek reiterated that the FPM’s behavior is “racist and nazi-like.”
It is noteworthy to mention that Sadek’s case falls under the jurisdiction of the Publications Court and not the criminal one.
This Is Beirut tried to reach out to Sadek for a comment without success.
The judge’s verdict has been denounced by several political figures who have expressed their outrage at a blatant violation of freedom of expression in solidarity with Dima Sadek.
Caretaker Minister of Information Ziad Makari tweeted: “After the issuance of a judicial ruling sentencing journalist Dima Sadek to prison, we emphasize our respect for the independence of the judiciary and reaffirm our absolute belief in the freedom of expression, which is the essence of Lebanon.”
“Therefore, we renew our call to the Lebanese Parliament to discuss and adopt the vision of the modern media law that we have presented, which abolishes imprisonment penalties against journalists,” Makari added.
The minister concluded by saying that “this law remains the only guarantee that meets the international standards to safeguard the freedom of those working in the field of media and protect them from the provisions of the penal code that some resort to in order to tighten the grip on journalists and intimidate them.”
“Attempts to intimidate independent journalists will be futile. On the contrary, they will only encourage them to defend the causes they are committed to,” head of the Kataeb party MP Samy Gemayel tweeted, emphasizing that it is exclusively the jurisdiction of the press tribunal to judge journalists.
MP Michel Doueihy rejected the verdict against Sadek “in substance and in form,” as did MPs Mark Daou and Paula Yacoubian.
Similarly, several journalists, including Jean Nakhoul, Diana Mokalled, and Nicole Hajal, have expressed their solidarity with their colleague, and the NGO Maharat has considered the ruling “a grave indicator of the decline of freedom of expression in Lebanon.”
