BEIRUT: Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadallah offered his support Tuesday to Al-Jadeed TV and its editor Karma Khayat, who begin a trial this week at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon over charges of obstruction of justice and contempt of court.
The charges, filed last year, relate to a 2012 Al-Jadeed report that disclosed personal details of alleged witnesses in a case trying five Hezbollah members accused of plotting the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
“We see this trial as a scandalous breach of Lebanese sovereignty and an assault on the Lebanese people’s freedoms, constitution and laws,” Fadlallah, who heads Parliament's media and telecommunications committee, told a news conference. “It reveals one of the roles that this tribunal plays as a tool to exert pressure on Lebanon,” he added.
Hezbollah does not recognize the STL as a legitimate court, and has accused it of being an Israeli tool created to undermine the party.
Khayat, the deputy manager of Al-Jadeed TV’s news desk, is expected to attend the first day of the trial Thursday in a town outside The Hague.
“Journalist Karma Khayat’s appearance at the court in The Hague is an insult to the Lebanese state,” Fadlallah said. “It would not take place in this manner if we had a real state that defends its sovereignty and protect the freedom of its media.”
The Hezbollah official called on the Cabinet to intervene immediately to stop what he called an assault on media freedom, saying that tolerating such actions would pave the way for other foreign entities to violate Lebanon’s sovereignty.
“How can any honorable and free Lebanese accept that a Lebanese is taken outside the country’s borders and appear at a foreign tribunal to be tried for her freedom of saying the truth?," he wondered.
“This wouldn’t have happened even in the age of foreign colonization, but it seems today’s colonization is stronger.”
If convicted, Khayat and Al-Jadeed's parent company, New TV S.A.L., face a maximum penalty of seven years in jail, a fine of 100,000 euros, or both.
Ibrahim al-Amin, the editor-in-chief of Al-Akhbar newspaper, and the newspaper's parent company Akhbar Beirut S.A.L, face similar charges.
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