Because the freedom of press in Lebanon is a right embodied in the Constitution and the rules and regulations in force, media outlets- written, audio and visual- operate as platforms addressing the stances and performance of the political class and daring critical coverage. Sometimes, political authorities detect libel and slander in the posted media material and subsequently resort to the Court of Publications to prosecute the outlet or the journalist in question for what they consider to be defamatory statements. The court either refutes the claims and grants acquittal or convicts the defendants sentencing them to prison or imposing fines in favor of the plaintiffs. The fines imposed by the court in recent years have amounted to LBP 505 million as illustrated in Table 1.

It is noteworthy that the highest fine worth LBP 100 million was imposed on Ad-Diyar in the lawsuit brought against it by former PM Saad Hariri.

Table 1: Fines imposed by the Court of Publications on media outlets in favor of the politicians.
Source: Court rulings published by Lebanese newspapers

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Plaintiff	Defendant	Publication date	Date of ruling	Court ruling
Major General Jamil Sayyed	Ayman Jezzini, Future Movement Website	-	02/11/2011	Case dismissal
	Fares Khashan- Youqal Net Website	20/01/2010	25/10/2010	A fine of LBP 10 million and a compensation for damages amounting to LBP 10 million
	Owner of Ash-Sharq newspaper Awni Kaaki and responsible director Yehia Jaber	02/06/2014	09/12/2015	A fine of LBP 3 million and a symbolic compensation of LBP 1000
	An-Nahar newspaper/ Journalist Antoine Khoury Harb and responsible director Habib Shlouq	20/04/2013	24/06/2014	Fining the columnist LBP 2 million
	Maria Maalouf during an interview on LBC	01/03/2012	09/07/2015	Fining Maalouf LBP 36 million including LBP 10 million to be paid to Jamil Sayyed as compensation and publishing the court ruling in Al-Mouttaham talk show on LBC as well as in three local newspapers.
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea	Al-Akhbar newspaper- Ibrahim El-Amin as well as the responsible director, the general manager and the columnist.	06/10/2008	13/02/2013	Fining columnist Antoine Khoury Harb LBP 10 million and Nader Sabbagh LBP 6 million as well as a compensation for damages amounting to LBP 6 million.
	Al-Anbaa’s  journalist Hamza Al-Khansa, the newspaper’s responsible director Mohammad Akl and the national company for media, owner of Al-Anba'a	07/10/2010	04/01/2014	Fining the columnist and the managing director LBP 6 million each as well as a compensation for damages amounting to LBP 10 million and publishing the court ruling.
	Al-Jadeed TV station and its Chief News editor Mariam al-Bassam	02/02/2013	20/04/2015	Fining the defendant LBP 6 million, imposing a compensation for damages worth LBP 6 million on al-Bassam and Al-Jadeed and broadcasting a brief summary of the court ruling.
	Al-Jadeed TV station, journalist Ghada Eid and Chief News Editor Mariam al-Bassam	02/12/2013	20/05/2015	Fining al-Bassam LBP 5 million and a compensation for damages amounting to LBP 6 million
Lebanese Forces Party and MP Strida Geagea	Al-Akhbar newspaper and columnist  Ghassan Saoud	14/12/2012 and 13/8/2012	12/01/2016	Fining Saoud LBP 9 million and a symbolic compensation of LBP 1000
General Michel Aoun	Ash-Sharq newspaper, its owners and columnist Alfred Nawwar.	4/10/2012 And 12/10/2012	02/12/2014	Fining Nawwar LBP  12 million and the newspaper LBP 10 million in each of the two cases against them, i.e. a total of LBP 44 million.
	Al-Mustaqbal Newspaper/ Journalist Carla Khattar	23/10/2012	24/06/2014	Fining the responsible director and the columnist LBP 3 million each and a compensation of LBP 1 million.
	Al-Mustaqbal newspaper	2011 and 2013	02/12/2015	Fining each of the five journalists who wrote the articles object of the trial LBP 3 million
Minister of Energy and Water Gebran Bassil	Future TV, the chairman of its board of directors and news directors Hussein Al-Wajeh and Imad Assi	04/04/2013	2014	Fining Hussein Al-Wajeh and Imad Assi LBP 4 million each and a compensation worth LBP 6 million.
MP Sami Gemayyel	Al-Akhbar’s newspaper and its digital site as well as the newspaper’s directors and the columnist Rola Ibrahim	23/04/2013	09/12/2015	A fine of LBP 1 million, a symbolic compensation of LBP 1000 and acquittal of Akhbar Beirut S.A.L. and its chairman Ibrahim Al-Amine
	Al-Akhbar’s digital site and the columnist Rola Al-Amine	30/05/2013	22/04/2015	Fining the columnist and the head of board of directors Ibrahim Al-Amine LBP 1 million each and a symbolic compensation of LBP 1000
Former Minister Ibrahim Najjar	Ash-Sharq newspaper- Director Yehia Jaber and owners Awni and Wafiq Kaaki	19/08/2011	-	Fining the managing director LBP 10 million and imposing on the director and the newspaper’s owners a compensation for damages amounting to LBP 15 million.
	Al-Akhbar newspaper and the columnist Radwan Mortada	20/08/2013	22/04/2015	Fining the newspaper and Mortada LBP 2 million each
Former Minister Elias Skaff	The Phalanges Party’s website managed by Nadim Yazbek	-	05/06/2012	Imposing a fine of LBP 8 million and posting the court ruling on the party’s website
Retired Judge Assem Safieddine	Al-Jadeed TV station and journalists Ghada Eid and George Bashir	07/03/2008	02/06/2015	Fining Ghada Eid LBP 6 million, George Bashir LBP 3 million and Al-Jadeed LBP 4 million
Former ISF Chief Ali el-Hajj	Ash-Shiraa magazine, its owner Hassan Sabra and the managing director Ghazi Al-Maqhour	21/03/2011	15/02/2016	Fining Ghazi Al-Maqhour LBP 1 million and acquitting Hassan Sabra
Former minister Tarek Mitri	Al-Akhbar newspaper/ Journalist Asaad Bou Khalil	-	16/05/2013	Fining the columnist and the newspaper LBP 6 million each and a compensation for damages amounting to LBP 6 million
MP Hassan Yaacoub	An-Nahar newspaper, its responsible director, editor-in-chief and the columnist Mohammad Abi Samra and Mahmoud Sadeq Yaghi	28/09/2008	28/06/2011	Imposing an LBP 6 million fine on Yaghi and LBP 3 million on each of Abi Samra and An-Nahar’s responsible director Habib Shlouq. A compensation for damages amounting to LBP 6 million is to be paid by the three of them.
Former PM Fouad Seniora	The Free Patriotic Movement’s website, the website’s responsible director Patrick Bassil and Paul Bassil.	31/12/2012	2013	Fining them LBP 6 million each.
MP Oukab Saqr	The Free Patriotic Movement’s website, the website’s responsible director Patrick Bassil and media coordinator Qassim Henoud	26/02/2011	2013	Fining Bassil and Henoud LBP 6 million each and a compensation for damages amounting to LBP 12 million
Head of the State’s Shura Council Judge Shukri Sader	Al-Jadeed TV station, its Chief News Editor Mariam al-Bassam and journalist Ghada Eid, presenter and editor of Al-Fasad talk show	-	30/10/2009	Fining al-Bassam and Eid LBP 20 million each as well as a compensation worth LBP 30 million, i.e. a total of LBP 70 million.
Former PM Saad Hariri	Ad-Diyar newspaper, its owner Charles Ayoub and the responsible director Youssef Houwayek	-	20/10/2009	Fining the newspaper’s owner and the responsible director LBP 50 million each, that is a total of LBP 100 million

 

The judge head of court who issued the ruling is : Rukoz Rizk

N.B: This list does not include lawsuits brought against politicians by other politicians, nor lawsuits brought against normal people.