Lebanese prosecutors have no business bringing charges against those who insult the president on Facebook
Patrick Galey
(Patrick Galey is a reporter based in Beirut, Lebanon, writing on security, environmental and social development issues)
guardian.co.uk, Saturday 3 July 2010
"Lebanon's president, Michel Sleiman, may have more than 60,000 Facebook fans, but it took the opinions of just three people for things to get unfriendly. The three – all of them in their 20s – were arrested earlier this week for allegedly defaming the president on the social networking website.
There is currently no specific law governing the publication of online content in Lebanon. People can – and do – say what they want across a variety of networking sites. However, it is a crime to criticise the president of the republic, as his position represents the entire country. Knock Sleiman and you knock Lebanon.....
Lebanon frequently tops the Arab pile in freedom of expression indexes, but the Facebook affair smacks of practices that are more familiar among Lebanon's neighbours, and it might be considered a warning shot for those who assumed that free speech is constitutionally guaranteed."
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