Activist Hayat Mirshad refuses to appear before the Cybercrime Bureau

Media activist Hayat Mirshad refused on June 10 to appear before the Cyber crime Bureau in Beirut on charges of libel and slander on cyberspace as per the complaint of plaintiff Tony Khalifeh, a local media figure. Mirshad to be recalled has criticized Khalifeh on the his handling of the subject of violence against women, particularly the video aired on most TV channels showing a lawyer beating his wife in public and then justifying his act on Khalifeh’s program. Activists staged on June 10 a sit in at the Barracks of Martyr Colonel Joseph Daher in solidarity with Mirshad. The protest aimed to “provide support for Mirshad in the face of conservative and reactionary thought seeking to suppress and silence progressive feminist voices” as was announced in the invitation. For his part, Lawyer Nizar Saghieh, following up on the case, explained that in the event of a lawsuit against a journalist, he or she are not to be questioned by judicial police, but by the competent judge in the presence of an attorney, so as to prevent intimidation of journalists at police stations. According to Saghieh, Judge Karam initially refused to summon Mrashad on the grounds that she is not a member of the Syndicate of Journalists, notwithstanding the documents which clearly support her claim. However, the Judge under public pressure was forced to reverse his decision and asked the Cyber crime Bureau to close the file. (L’Orient Le Jour, 16 June 2015)