Penal Code
Article 408- Whoever testifies before a judicial authority or a military or administrative judiciary and asserts falsehood, denies the truth, or conceals some or all of what he knows of the facts of t ...
More DetailsNot Compliant with Standards
Analysis
Law for journalists did not guarantee their right to protect the information they have access to and the sources of their information. The article of the Penal Code jeopardizes the freedom and essence of journalistic work through the possibility of prosecuting every journalist who does not disclose the sources of their information that they may have procured regarding a particular case, and that is in the event being summoned to testify in that case in front of the specialized courts.
Publications Law
Article 99- A body affiliated with the Lebanese Press Association shall be established called the Disciplinary Council, whose mission is to look into press cases arising from behavioral violations tha ...
More DetailsNot Compliant with Standards
Analysis
The Disciplinary Council deals with disciplinary issues of journalists, and among its powers is a ban from practicing the profession for a limited period and final removal from the press schedule. Practicing the profession of journalism is fundamentally linked to the freedom guaranteed in Article 19 of the Declaration and Covenant and enshrined in various international constitutions and charters. This freedom is related to personal freedoms that cannot be waived or deprived of. Thus, preventing a person from expressing or expelling him from a professional syndicate of journalists does not prevent this person from continuing his journalistic work or affiliation with another professional syndicate in accordance with the principle of freedom of syndicate assembly.
Recommendations
Cancellation of the text as it contradicts the principles of freedom of expression and union assembly. The solution is to open a serious discussion about the possibility of implementing self-regulatory mechanisms that can start with primary initiatives within each media organization to add internal policies that provide greater protection for journalists and their work.
Publications Law
Article 10 Paragraph 2- As for the one who impersonates a journalist for any reason, he shall be punished by imprisonment from six months to one year and a fine from 1,000 to 5,000 liras.
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Publications Law
Article 77- Journalists are affiliated with two independent bodies: the Lebanese Press Syndicate and the Lebanese Press Editors Syndicate. These two unions consist of a supreme body called the Lebanes ...
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Analysis
The principle of freedom of syndicat assembly is a fundamental principle related to freedom of the press, and the freedom of journalistic work related to freedom of opinion and expression in its broadest sense cannot be limited to an exclusive and obligatory body (Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Advisory Opinion No. OC-5/85 of November 13 1985)
