Lebanon is preparing charges against the International Herald Tribune over a pro-Israeli advertisement that appeared last week in the newspaper, which has a Beirut edition.
Lebanon's Prosecutor General Adnan Addoum told The Associated Press he decided to proceed with the case after conferring with Information Minister Ghazi Aridi.
The advertisement in Friday's edition was placed by the New York-based Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and ran under the headline titled - - "Israel we are with you. Now more than ever."
"We are deeply saddened and pained by the tragic loss of life as a result of the vicious campaign of Palestinian terrorism," it said.
According to laws in Lebanon, a foreign publication that distributes in Lebanon cannot publish items deemed propaganda for Israel. Lebanon and Israel are technically in a state of war.
Cases relating to newspapers and magazines are covered by a Publications Law and a special court at the early phases.
Charges in the Tribune case could include harming national feelings, publishing propaganda for an enemy state and violating an Arab boycott of Israel. Punishment could be a fine of up to 1 million Lebanese pounds (around $666) or a jail sentence for its Lebanon representative if an intent to cause insult was indeed found.
Meanwhile, in Paris, David Ignatius, IHT executive editor, said he could not comment on the case before he learned more about it, however added that the International Herald Tribune has been publishing in Lebanon since July "without censorship of any kind."
"We are proud to publish in Lebanon, in the Middle East, with the Daily Star, and we hope to do so for many years to come," he noted.
The IHT, which is based in Paris and publishes editions in cities around the world, has since July been appearing in Lebanon as part of an agreement with Lebanon's English-language Daily Star newspaper. The Daily Star is inserted into the IHT in line with the agreement.
IHT officials in France’s capital city had no immediate comment. The IHT was founded in 1887 and has been jointly owned since 1967 by The New York Times and The Washington Post.
"I think that we were caught between a rock and a hard place," said Daily Star publisher Jamil Mroue, who said that under the deal with the IHT, the Star has no influence over the content of the IHT.
"I think the Lebanese government and authorities have a point," Mroue claimed. The newspaper may have broken Lebanese law, he added, however there was no intent to cause insult.
The Star, which under the agreement retains full editorial independence from the IHT, said in an editorial Saturday that the advertisement "illustrated the lopsided nature of the propaganda front in the Arab-Israeli conflict" and said Arabs must counter Jewish propaganda by organizing an effective campaign to explain the Arab perspective.
Moreover, The Star editorial accused some of the leading figures of the ADL of having "extremist tendencies." (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
