Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06BEIRUT1106
2006-04-10 07:20:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Beirut
Cable title:  

MGLE01: FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION CASE IN LEBANON

Tags:  KDEM LE PGOV PHUM PREL 
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DE RUEHLB #1106/01 1000720
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O 100720Z APR 06 ZDK
FM AMEMBASSY BEIRUT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2980
INFO RUEHEE/ARAB LEAGUE COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BEIRUT 001106 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

NSC FOR ABRAMS/DORAN/WERNER/SINGH

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/10/2016
TAGS: KDEM LE PGOV PHUM PREL
SUBJECT: MGLE01: FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION CASE IN LEBANON
DRAWS INTEREST


Classified By: Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman. Reason: Section 1.4 (b).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BEIRUT 001106

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

NSC FOR ABRAMS/DORAN/WERNER/SINGH

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/10/2016
TAGS: KDEM LE PGOV PHUM PREL
SUBJECT: MGLE01: FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION CASE IN LEBANON
DRAWS INTEREST


Classified By: Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman. Reason: Section 1.4 (b).


1. (C) Summary: Lebanon's Office of the Military Justice
will hear a case on April 17 to determine if a reformist
attorney is guilty of "defaming the institution of the
military" when he made statements before the European
Commission in November 2003. In the opinion of the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defense, those
statements violated Lebanese law and a case was brought
against Dr. Muhamad Mugraby. Embassy Beirut met with both
Dr. Mugraby and Dr. Jean Fahed, Attorney General for the
Office of Military Justice, to determine the facts of the
situation. Dr. Mugraby is keen on having his case heard
because he feels it will focus needed attention on Lebanese
laws that do not comply with basic human rights, specifically
as enunciated by the United Nations Declaration of Human
Rights (1947),of which Lebanon is a signatory. Dr. Fahed,
on the other hand, insists his office has tried in vain to
dismiss the case administratively, but Dr. Mugraby has kept
the process alive by not cooperating with standard military
court procedures. The Ambassador has communicated with
Minister of Justice Charles Rizk to express his concern over
both the case and its underlying law, which was implemented
during the period when Syrian security forces controlled
Lebanon's judiciary and heavily influenced its parliament.
The Embassy will also send an officer to the normally closed
April 17 hearing of the military tribunal and will report any
decision to the Department. End summary.


2. (C) Dr. Muhamad Mugraby, a U.S. educated attorney who
has practiced law for several decades in Beirut, gave
testimony to the European Union's Parliamentary Foreign
Affairs Committee on November 4, 2003 in which he criticized
Lebanon's military establishment, the government's control of
the media, and conditions in the state's prison system.
Lebanon at that time was under the effective control of the
Syrian regime. The criticism leveled by Dr. Mugraby against

that regime was accurate and well justified.


3. (C) On the following day, November 5, 2003, Lebanon's
chief diplomatic envoy in Brussels reported the testimony of
Dr. Mugraby to his superiors in the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs. Embassy Beirut has not been able to obtain all the
documentation, but it appears the report slowly made its way
through the ministry and was eventually referred to the
Ministry of Defense. As Lebanon was undergoing the Cedar
Revolution and holding its first parliamentary elections in
May-June 2005 -- after the depature of the Syrian troops but
before the Siniora government was formed in July 2005 -- the
Office of Military Justice decided in June 2005 to bring
charges against Dr. Mugraby for "defaming the institution of
the military and its officers" based upon his testimony
before the EU committee.


4. (C) According to Dr. Fahed, Attorney General of the
Office of Military Justice, his office has been trying
quietly to dismiss the "troublesome case" for the last few
months. He stated, without providing documentation, that he
had been instructed by the Minister of Defense to
administratively close the file, but claimed the defendant,
Dr. Mugraby, was intent on being brought to trial and had not
cooperated in the formalities needed to dismiss the case.
Dr. Fahed stated that he was exasperated by the whole affair,
but as an officer of the court he is required to follow
procedure. He confided to emboff that the Mugraby case in
all likelihood would be dismissed at the formal April 17
hearing.


5. (C) Dr. Mugraby, on the other hand, insisted that the
Office of Military Justice has vindictively prosecuted him
for years, and their behavior has changed little since the
departure of the Syrian security regime from Lebanon. He
also argued that irrespective of the intentions of the Office
of the Military Justice, it was critically important to shed
light on the undemocratic and illegal statutes that still
remained in Lebanon's penal code. Dr. Mugraby stated he was
very much looking forward to his day in court.


6. (C) Embassy Beirut strongly concurs that Lebanon's laws
require a thorough review and revision where necessary to
remove the vestiges of the repressive Syrian period. This
case, however, may not be the vehicle to publicly take the
government to task. We agree that the charges against Dr.
Mugraby are without grounds and run counter to the principles
of human rights that the government of Lebanon should be
protecting and that action is required.


BEIRUT 00001106 002 OF 002



7. (C) Consequently, the Ambassador has communicated with
Minister of Justice Charles Rizk and informed him of USG
concern over the inappropriateness and injustice of this
case. The minister was also informed that the Embassy would
be monitoring its outcome and would then determine if
additional action is required. The Embassy has obtained
permission to send an officer to what is normally a closed
session of the Military Tribunal on April 17, and will report
its decision to the Department for possible further
consideration.
FELTMAN