Nada Homsi: Rights groups urge Lebanon to release US journalist | Media News

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International say the detention of journalist Nada Homsi is arbitrary and are demanding her release.

Human rights groups have called on the Lebanese authorities to release an American journalist who has been arrested on unclear allegations, calling her detention “arbitrary”.

Nada Homsi was arrested on November 16 after her home in Beirut was ransacked “without a judicial order” and denied access to a lawyer, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said in a joint statement on Wednesday.

Homsi, a freelance journalist who works for the US media company National Public Radio (NPR), continues to be held by General Security, a high-ranking intelligence agency, despite the Lebanese prosecutor’s office ordering her release on November 25.

“General Security’s refusal to release Homsi despite orders from prosecutors is a blatant abuse of power and a very worrying indication of the security agency’s lack of respect for the rule of law,” said Aya Majzoub, Lebanon researcher at Human Rights Watch.

According to her lawyer, Diala Chehade, Homsi was charged with drug possession after General Security found a small amount of cannabis in her home and charged her with drug use, but agency officials continue to say she is being held on “security grounds”.

#Libanons General Security has been detaining US journalist Nada Homsi since November 16 for unspecified “security reasons” and did not allow her to contact her family / lawyers 6 days after the arrest. Her detention is arbitrary and GSO should release her immediately. Https://t.co/bC0k9sOJT4 pic.twitter.com/s3tyYP8lHQ

– Aya Majzoub (@Aya_Majzoub) December 8, 2021

No security or military charges have been brought against Homsi, despite General Security officials claiming the raid on her home was based on security information gathered by her information unit, the statement said.

In addition, Homsi was denied access to a lawyer for six days and, according to Chehade, he was interrogated without a lawyer present in violation of Article 47 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Homsi was told by officials that “these rights do not apply to General Security.”

Under Lebanese law, a person can be detained without charge for a maximum of 96 hours and must be released if no charge has been made.

Chehade said the security agency continues to detain Homsi on the pretext that she is working in the country without a proper work permit, and the agency issued a deportation for her about two weeks ago.

“General security should release Homsi immediately and give her a meaningful opportunity to challenge her deportation in a competent, independent and credible court,” said Diala Haidar, Lebanon activist at Amnesty International.

“They must refrain from arresting anyone on their immigration status and promptly identify and hold accountable those suspected of being responsible within their structure for violating Homsi’s rights to due process.”

Attack on journalists

Homsi’s detention comes amid what human rights groups believe to be a raid on journalists in Lebanon by state and non-state actors.

According to the Samir Kassir Center for Media and Cultural Freedom (SKeyes), a guardian of media and press freedom in Beirut, more than 100 media workers were attacked by non-state actors between the start of the uprising in October 2019 and November 2021.

Human rights groups said security agencies regularly attack journalists who are doing their jobs, especially while reporting on protests. Yet the responsibility for such abuses remains elusive as the Lebanese authorities use the broad jurisdiction of the military courts to silence and punish peaceful dissent or criticism of the security authorities.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/12/8/nada-homsi-rights-groups-urge-lebanon-release-us-journalist