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Freedom of Expression Takes Another Hit in Lebanon

Jean Aziz argues that freedom of expression in Lebanon is regularly restricted by the authorities for a variety of baffling reasons, despite this right being enshrined in the Lebanese constitution.
Cars drive past billboards of Lebanon's assassinated former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri at Sidon, southern Lebanon, February 13, 2011. The billboards were for the upcoming sixth anniversary of his assassination taking place on the 14th of February. REUTERS/Ali Hashisho (LEBANON - Tags: ANNIVERSARY POLITICS) - RTR2IJ5T
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With the caricatures of the Maronite patriarch and the Saudi king that appeared in the Saudi newspaper Al-Watan and on one of Beirut’s roadways, Lebanon’s crisis with the freedom of expression has returned to the fore in a country that claims to be an oasis for freedom in the region.

For more than 20 years, the Lebanese lawmakers who crafted the 1990 constitutional amendments have boasted that its preamble explicitly confirms that the “land of the cedars” is committed to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and that “the government shall embody these principles in all fields and areas without exception.”

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