The indictment last month of two prominent Lebanese human rights activists on charges of "tarnishing the reputation" of Lebanese security forces is considered by many to be a defining milestone in the Lebanese regime's campaign of harassment and intimidation of nongovernmental organizations and civil society.

Kamal el Batal

On August 5, a Lebanese military prosecutor filed charges under Article157 of the Military Penal Code against Kamal el Batal, director of the human rights group MIRSAD (Multi-Initiative on Rights: Search, Assist and Defend) and Ziad Mugraby, managing director of the Internet service provider Destination. The charges, which could result in prison terms of three months to three years, are the latest chapter in a saga that began earlier this year with the registration of a domain name, gaylebanon.com, for a web site apparently directed toward gay and lesbian Lebanese. While Lebanese law explicitly forbids "acts against nature," a clause widely interpreted to mean homosexuality, it is not illegal to set up or maintain web sites with gay and lesbian themes, provided that they do not contain pornographic or obscene content.

On April 3, two plainclothes officers of the Lebanese vice squad (police des moeurs) arrived at the office of Destination in Beirut, claiming to be acting under the authority of Beirut prosecutor Joseph Maamari to investigate persons responsible for financing or maintaining the web site. The officers had no search warrant, but nevertheless proceeded to enter the premises, order the employees of Destination not to make any outgoing phone calls during the raid, and interrogate the company's technical personnel. The officers confiscated the personal identity card of one employee and ordered Mugraby to appear the following day at the Hobeish police station, near the American University of Beirut, for further questioning.

After the departure of the officers, a lawyer for Destination contacted the head of the vice squad, and was told that Destination was accused of "broadcasting" immoral films--an allegation that which revealed the officer's ignorance of the Internet. The lawyer attempted to explain to the difference between the Internet and regular audiovisual broadcasting media, but to no avail.

The next day, Mugraby and his lawyer went to the Hobeish police station, where he was interrogated by one of the officers who had conducted the earlier raid. Mugraby's lawyer was not permitted to be present during part of the interrogation. The officer alleged that the ISP had been involved in the establishment of gaylebanon.com. According to representatives of Destination, the company wasn�t involved in the production of the web site and the alleged link (erroneously reported by Agence France Presse) resulted from a "technicality, part of the process of registering the domain name of a new web site."

On April 17, Mugraby was again summoned to the Hobeish police station. By this time, the vice squad had brought an "information technology consultant" from the police headquarters, Maj. Jacques Bakayev, into the investigation and apparently concluded that the site was set up by individuals in Lebanon using a Destination Internet account. The police demanded that Mugraby reveal the names of those responsible for setting up the site (information which he claimed he did not have) and threatened to shut down Destination by order of the Beirut prosecutor (the police do not have the power to do this under Lebanese law). Mugraby was released and given two days to reconsider and provide the information.

The next day, MIRSAD issued an action alert to human rights NGO's and supporters via email, condemning "the unlawful attempts by the police to interfere in the freedom of the Internet and the freedom of expression of the gay community" and expressing concern that the harassment could lead to further attempts to censor the Internet in Lebanon. Sometime thereafter, Maj. Bakayev received a phone call from an associate of his who inquired about the interrogation of Mugraby and provided him with a copy of the MIRSAD email release. On July 21, Batal was summoned to Hobeish and interrogated. The questioning, Batal later said, was "in relation to the content of our urgent action [alerts] regarding the harassment of the Lebanese ISP Destination in April. The interrogators were keen to make me reveal the sources of our information and the methods we follow in our investigation.

At some point the investigation came under military jurisdiction. On August 5, Mugraby and Batal were charged with "tarnishing the reputation of the vice squad by distributing a printed flyer" and ordered to appear before the Military Tribunal in Mathaf on August 25. It is not clear whether the charges are a reference to the email press release issued by MIRSAD in April or to some other press release. After their appearance in court last month, the prosecuting judge, Brigadier Maher Safieddine, agreed to postpone the hearing until November 17.

It appears that prosecutors have abandoned the original investigation into the gaylebanon.com site (which was apparently set up by Lebanese nationals living in New York), focusing exclusively on the defamation charges under Article157. However, while Article 157 prohibits defamation of the Lebanese Army and the Lebanese Flag, it does not mention the Police des Moeurs or Internal Security Forces. "My opinion is that the tribunal is going beyond its competence," said George Assaf, head of the Human Rights Institute at the Beirut Bar Association. Nasri Lahoud, the chief military prosecutor at the tribunal, has refused to comment on the case.

It appears that the original gaylebanon.com investigation was largely a means of provoking the two defendants into actions that would provide the basis for a military prosecution. It is not yet clear what, precisely, is the foundation for the charges, however. Press reports have erroneously indicated that the charges refer to MIRSAD's email action alert in April, but this is not the case. "We are being accused of distributing a flyer in which we mention that an officer threatened one of us which tarnishes the image of the vice squad. We still have to get a copy of the prosecuting file which supposedly contains the flyer, where is was caught, the orders, etc.," Batal told MEIB.

Authorities believe that negative perceptions of homosexuality will stifle public criticism of the case, allowing the regime to avoid the public relations costs which would normally be incurred by imprisoning two prominent and well-respected human rights activists. "If you look at this in an absolute manner, freedom of speech is protected under the Constitution," said Assaf. "However, I suspect that even civil society wouldn't support the rights of homosexuals."¹

According to Batal, the case is designed to intimidate human-rights activists in Lebanon, extend the Military Tribunal's authority over civilian affairs and pave the way for a broader assault on the country's vibrant civil society. "My major concern is the pressure this case has created on human-rights activists here," said Batal last month. "The damage has already been done . . . The threat of imprisonment from 3 months to 3 years is very intimidating." Batal has been subject to harassment on previous occasions for his work on behalf of Lebanese citizens illegally detained in Syrian prisons. Mugraby's father, Beirut attorney Muhamad Mugraby, has actively worked to expose corruption in the Lebanese judicial system.

International human rights organizations have sharply condemned the trial. Human Rights Watch condemned the Lebanese regime's "attempt to prosecute civilians for exercising the internationally guaranteed right to freedom of expression" and added that "civilians should never be tried in military courts, which lack the fuller independence of the civilian judiciary."² Amnesty International called the reaction of the authorities "unacceptable" and said that "if military courts are to be used in this way to silence free criticism, it will be a sad day for freedom of expression in Lebanon."³

It has also been suggested that the case is a preemptive move to silence potential criticism of a concerted campaign by the Lebanese regime to censor the Internet. According to information technology experts in Lebanon, Damascus has pressured its client regime to rout all Lebanese Internet traffic through Syria. The Syrian telecommunications authority recently announced its intent to develop a sophisticated Internet monitoring system and issued a public tender for its installation. The system would not only monitor Internet and email traffic, but would also identify users by name, address and proximity to the nearest police or intelligence station.

Notes

  ¹ The Daily Star (Beirut), 25 September 2000.
  ² Human Rights Watch, Lebanon: Internet, Gay Rights Targeted; Free Expression at Risk, 23 September 2000.
  ³ Amnesty International, Amnesty International Condemns Harassment of Human Rights Defender, 22 September 2000.