Lebanon: Three Arrested for Facebook Postings · Global Voices
Layal Al Khatib

Once again this year, the Lebanese government strikes again (the first incident was couple of months ago)  by arresting Naim George Hanna, 27, Antoine Youssef Ramya, 29, and Shebel Rajeh Qassab, 27, for posting Facebook statuses against the Lebanese President Michel Suleiman. And along with the new e-transactions draft law dilemma, the Lebanese online community is outraged because of the invasion of their cyberspace. Here are some of their reactions to the arrests:
Lebanese blogger and journalist Hanibaael wrote in his post entitled “So you won't be next!! Move!“(Ar):
Lebanese blogger Tony commented on the arrests, saying(Ar):
Lebanese blogger finkployd wrote a letter to the President asking him about the other serious issues in the country:
Dear Mr. President,
It is unfortunate, on so many levels, that 3+ people have been arrested for insulting you on Facebook.
And that the Minister of Justice Ibrahim Najjar has defended and encouraged the arrests.
And that the media uproar is at most tepid.
And that you have not intervened to right the wrongs that have been committed.
This at a time when:
- forest fires are raging
– Saida's landfill stands tall
– israeli planes are buzzing
– israeli spies are running amok
– traffic accident fatalities are soaring
[…]
The reactions to this letter were mixed. One of the readers turned the letter to an e-petition for the online community to sign, and another one only said:
You just can't go around insulting people.
Blogger Mustapha, who writes at Beirut Spring, wondered if the letter will reach the President the way the insults did. He said:
[…] what makes you think that the same handlers are going to pass on your letters to the President?
Surprisingly, the administrators of the President's Facebook page posted an announcement about what happened saying that “There's a huge difference between freedom of speech and freedom of defamation against our President“[Ar]:
The three men have been released for now, and Lebanese blogger Assaad wrote a detailed post[Ar] about the whole incident and considered their release a victory for the civil society:
It might be a momentary victory for the Lebanese online community. But will it last? Will Lebanon have more threatened voices?