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AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL
Public Statement
AI Index: MDE
18/001/2006 (Public)
News Service No:
004
5 January 2006
Lebanon: Latest
charge against human rights lawyer Dr Muhamad Mugraby must be dropped and
all harassment against him cease
Human rights lawyer Dr Muhamad Mugraby is due to appear before the
Military Court in Beirut on 9 January charged with slandering the
“military establishment and its officers”. If found guilty he may be
sentenced to up to three years’ imprisonment. The charge relates to a
statement he made to the European Parliament’s Mashreq Delegation in
Brussels on 4 November 2003, in which he criticised the military court
system in Lebanon including for, he stated, the inadequate legal training
of the courts’ judges, and for the torture suffered by suspects tried
before military courts in order to force them to “confess”.
Amnesty International calls for the charge to be dropped immediately as it
is based on Dr Muhamad Mugraby exercising his right to freedom of
expression guaranteed in Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights, to which Lebanon is a state party, and principle 23
of the UN Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers. Dr Mugraby’s
statements in the European Parliament contained legitimate human rights
issues that reflect concerns well documented by Amnesty International.
Amnesty International has repeatedly expressed concern about the Lebanese
military court system whose trials fall far short of international
standards for fair trials. In particular, contrary to Lebanese
legislation, military courts have been granted wide jurisdiction to try
civilians; fail fully to explain their verdicts; use summary proceedings
which undermine defence rights; and have judges who are predominantly
military officers with inadequate legal training. The military courts’
proceedings are not subject to independent judicial review, an essential
requirement for fair trial. (See A Human Rights Agenda for the
Parliamentary Elections, May 2005 [MDE 18/005/2005]).
Over
the years Amnesty International has also repeatedly documented the use of
torture and ill-treatment in Lebanese detention centres particularly
during pre-trial detention and as a means of obtaining “confessions”. The
United Nations’ Human Rights Committee has also expressed concerns about
Lebanon’s military courts and well-substantiated allegations of torture
and ill-treatment by Lebanon’s police and security forces. (See
Concluding Observations of the Human Rights Committee: Lebanon, CCPR/C/79/Add.78,
1 April 1997.
Lebanon’s fourth
periodic report to the HRC was due in 2003 but is yet to be submitted).
Amnesty
International is also concerned that this case against Dr Mugraby falls
within a pattern of harassment against him that may be related to his
legitimate work in defence of human rights. Among a number of past and
pending cases against him, in 1995 he was charged with defaming the state
of Lebanon and its judiciary in a fax he sent to Amnesty International – a
case that was finally dismissed in 2001. In an ongoing case against him
which is pending before the Beirut Court of Appeal, Dr Mugraby was
arrested on 8 August 2003, then released on bail three weeks later, for
his alleged "impersonation of a lawyer". (See Dr al-Mugraby must be
immediately released, [MDE 18/011/2003], 13 August 2003). Amnesty
International is also calling on the Lebanese authorities to drop this
charge against him and to cease the apparent pattern of harassment against
him.
Background
"Lawyers like
other citizens are entitled to freedom of expression, belief, association
and assembly. In particular, they shall have the right to take part in
public discussion of matters concerning the law, the administration of
justice and the promotion and protection of human rights and to join or
form local, national or international organizations and attend their
meetings, without suffering professional restrictions by reason of their
lawful action or their membership in a lawful organization. In exercising
these rights, lawyers shall always conduct themselves in accordance with
the law and the recognized standards and ethics of the legal profession.”
(Principle
23 of the UN Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers)
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