Law declaring a state of emergency or military zone
Article 4- The higher military authority, in the event of declaring a state of emergency or a military zone, has the right to: 11- Preventing publications that disturb security and taking the necessar ...
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Law declaring a state of emergency or military zone
Article 5, paragraph 2 - All violations of the provisions of Article 4 of this legislative decree are also referred to the military court.
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Analysis
This article violates the provisions of Article 157 of the Military Judiciary Law, which considers that the Publications Court is the valid authority to consider publishing crimes related to the army and military authorities. The declaration of a partial state of emergency in the city of Beirut and the handing over of powers to the army following the explosion of the port of Beirut on August 4, 2020, makes any criticism of the army and the military authorities come under the rule of restrictions that can be imposed on the media, and this would make journalists vulnerable to prosecution in front of Military court without any guarantees of defense and a fair trial. (A prison sentence against journalist Mortada for criticizing the performance of the military institution regarding explosive ammonium nitrate materials in the port of Beirut)
Law declaring a state of emergency or military zone
Article 6- 1 - Punishable by imprisonment from ten days to a year and a fine from fifty pounds to a thousand Pounds or one of these two penalties for anyone who violates the orders, decisions and meas ...
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Analysis
The penalty of imprisonment stipulated for violating the provisions of the state of emergency and the military zone, which is up to one year and applies to journalists and media outlets, is not commensurate with their natural and necessary role that they exercise in informing society and discussing public issues that concern people and their interests.
Military Judiciary Law
Article 157, Amended according to Decree No. 1460 dated 8/7/1971, Paragraph 2 - Any person who, by means of one of the means mentioned in Article 209 of the Penal Code, insults the army or the army, ...
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Analysis
When a state who is a member of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights imposes certain restrictions on the exercise of freedom of expression and the circulation of information, such restrictions may not jeopardize the right itself. The restrictions stipulated in Article 157 of the Military Judiciary Law constitute a violation of media freedom by providing an absolute ban on the circulation of any information related to the army and military authorities without the approval or authorization of those authorities, which constitutes a prior censorship of the media and the freedom of information circulation.
Penal Code
Article 317- (Amended By Law 1954 and then Law 239 on 27/5/1993 ) Every act, writing, and speech intended or resulting in inciting sectarian or racial strife or inciting conflict between sects and the ...
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Analysis
The legal rules that limit the exercise of freedom of expression and other human rights must be clear, for the flexible phrases used in the text of the article to restrict freedom of expression, although it aims to protect the alleged legitimate interest of the state related to public order, it lacks of limited and clear standards that determine the nature of harming the prestige and scope of the state or harming its religious elements. This would create a wide discretion for the authorities to use these flexible terms to restrict freedom of expression and circulation of information in a way that affects the essence of these two freedoms, making these restrictions do not truly meet the objectives of achieving the intended public interest. The Human Rights Committee, in Comment No. 34 on Article 19, held that “For the purposes of paragraph 3, the rule to be regarded as a 'law' must be formulated with sufficient precision in order for an individual to control his or her conduct in accordance with it, and must be made available to the general public. The persons responsible for its implementation have absolute discretion to restrict freedom of expression.” Nor shall these restrictions jeopardize the right itself. The restrictions stipulated in Article 292 of the Penal Code absolutely prohibit the right to criticize heads of state and their political representatives, and the principle of acquittal is not applied if an act of defamation is proven against them, without any legitimate legal justification or necessity. In addition, the penalty of imprisonment prescribed for demeaning these personalities is considered disproportionate to the act prescribed in a democratic society and in violation of the provisions of Article 19 of the Covenant. (Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 34, Article 19 of 2011). Also, the penalty is imprisonment of up to six months, which is prescribed for the acts. Those that fall within the broad criminalization circle of this article are disproportionate to the actions that this article may affect.
Recommendations
Abolishing loose and elastic phrases such as “stirring up strife” and defining the actions that are clearly prohibited or punished, provided that all texts related to hate speech and also stipulated in the Publications Law to be unified and the penalty of unjustified imprisonment to be abolished.
Penal Code
Article 420 (amended according to Law 239 dated May 27, 1993)- Will be punished with a fine of twenty-five to one hundred pounds whoever publishes: 1- An act of investigation or criminal or correction ...
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Analysis
Parts of Article 420 aims to protect privacy in some types of lawsuits brought to the courts. It also considered that publishing the final judgment in such cases in good faith is not a punishable offense under the law. However, the absolute prohibition of publishing investigation documents is unjustified and unnecessary in a democratic society, as everyone has the right to see the investigation procedures or one of its documents if it is related to public interest.
Publications Law
Article 22 - The journalist known for him in Articles 10 and 11 of this law must fulfill the following conditions: 1 - He must be a Lebanese man who has completed twenty-one years of age. 2 - He must ...
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Analysis
Journalism is a profession shared by a wide range of actors, including professional and full-time reporters and analysts as well as bloggers and others who engage in forms of self-publishing in print, on the Internet, or on other mediums, and here, general government systems of registration or licensing of journalists are inconsistent with paragraph 3, Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which protects freedom of expression (United Nations Human Rights Committee, Comment No. 34 of 12 September 2011).
Publications Law
Article 27-It is absolutely prohibited to issue any press publication before obtaining a license from the Minister of Guidance, News and Tourism after consulting the Press Syndicate.
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Analysis
Restrictions on freedom of the press must be necessary, adequate and proportionate. Subjecting press publications to the licensing system is an unnecessary restriction and does not aim to protect any legitimate objective in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 3 of Article of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Publications Law
Article 39- In exceptional cases, as if the country or part of it is exposed to danger resulting from an external war, armed revolution, disturbances, situations or actions that threaten order, secur ...
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Analysis
Although the text of the article speaks of exceptional cases that enable the government to impose a prior censorship on the media, these cases are not clearly defined and are left open to the government’s discretion, and this is contrary to the principles of restricting freedoms. Article 39 also includes elastic and unclear phrases such as disturbances, acts that threaten the regime and others. . This article contradicts the principle that any restriction on basic freedoms must be clearly stipulated in a law, and that these restrictions must be necessary and proportionate. Contrary to this principle, the government was assigned to organize this Censorship, how to conduct it, and to designate the authority that would undertake it without any guarantees or conditions specified in the text of the law.
Publications Law
Article 74- Anyone who wants to sell newspapers, books, magazines, photographs, drawings and other publications must obtain a license from the Ministry of Guidance, News and Tourism.
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Publications Law
Article 12- No one may own or run a printing press without submitting a permit to the Ministry of Information.
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Publications Law
Article 71 - Anyone wishing to establish a publishing house must submit to the Ministry of Information a signed permit. Article 72 - In the case of granting or refusing a license, the provisions for ...
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Analysis
Subjecting the establishment of publishing houses to a license by the Ministry of Information constitutes a violation of the freedom of publishing and information circulation, and it also allows the authority to exercise prior censorship over books and literature without any justified legal basis.
Publications Law
Article 40 - If a publication is issued in violation of the decree of subjecting publications to prior censorship, its preparation in the administrative manner is confiscated and its issuance is suspe ...
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Analysis
The mere publication of the newspaper or the broadcast of the program in contravention of the provisions of prior censorship exposes the person responsible for it to a prison sentence of up to three years. This punishment is disproportionate to the act and puts personal freedoms at risk. Also, banning the convict from a custodial penalty of up to three years and depriving the person of a remedy and appealing the decision issued against him before an appellate or discriminatory judicial reference would constitute a violation of the rights of defense and fair trials. Especially Article 11 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which requires that every person has the necessary guarantees for his defense.
Publications Law
Article 29 - The Minister of Guidance, News and Tourism shall recover the license by issuing a press publication after two weeks’ warning in one of the following cases: -First: If it was not issued wi ...
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Publications Law
Article 46- The director of the press publication shall send a copy of each issue immediately upon its issuance to the Public Prosecution of Appeal, which issues the publication in its region, and two ...
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Publications Law
Article 12 - It is prohibited for all publications to publish: 1 - the facts of criminal and misdemeanor investigations before they are recited in a public session, secret trials, trials related to di ...
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Analysis
Prohibiting the publishing and circulation of information is an exception and a restriction on freedom of expression and access to information, and these exceptions must be specific and clear on the one hand and necessary to protect a legitimate goal on the other hand. Some of the restrictions contained in Article 12 apply to the justifications for the prohibition mentioned above, but some restrictions, such as preventing the publication of any official document belonging to a public administration and marked with the phrase “secret” does not conflict with the criteria mentioned for restriction, and makes any document by simply marking it with the phrase “secret” restricted from circulation. This is against the law on the right to access information.
