Lebanese journalist Dima Sadek given one-year prison sentence for defamation

Political parties condemn ruling and say it makes freedom of expression a criminal offence

Prominent Lebanese journalist Dima Sadek has been sentenced to a year in prison by a Beirut judge after the leader of one of the country’s largest political parties accused her of defamation and slander.

Sadek, who plans to appeal, was also ordered to pay 110 million Lebanese pounds (about $1,200 on the parallel market) to the Free Patriotic Movement led by Gebran Bassil.

Mr Bassil filed his lawsuit in 2020 after Ms Sadek described FPM supporters as “Nazi-like” and racist after an attack, in the coastal town of Jounieh, on two men from the northern city of Tripoli.

Jounieh is a predominantly Christian town while Tripoli is a largely Sunni Muslim city. The FPM is one of the largest Christian-led political parties in Lebanon.

Sadek said that one of the men who was attacked was forced to say “Aoun is your God and the God of Tripoli”, in reference to FPM founder Michel Aoun, president of Lebanon at the time.

Upon filing the lawsuit, Mr Bassil, who is Mr Aoun’s son-in-law, condemned “the publication of a video, falsely attributed to the FPM, including incitement to hatred and racism, which could give rise to a sectarian conflict”.

Sadek said the sentence handed down by Judge Rosine Hujaili set “a very dangerous precedent for the freedom of journalism, media and expression in Lebanon”.

The sentence was condemned by independent MPs and some Lebanese political parties, particularly those traditionally opposed to the FPM.

Amnesty International criticised what it described as the act of “criminalising freedom of expression”.