On
Thursday 20 April, the Lebanese lawyer, human rights defender and
director of the NGO Legal Agenda Nizar Saghiyé was summoned to
appear before the Beirut Bar Council. The summons followed Mr
Saghiyé's criticism of an amendment to the Code of Ethics of the
Beirut Bar Association which prevents lawyers from speaking publicly
in the media without prior authorisation from the President of the
Bar Association.
EuroMed
Rights, Front Line Defenders and the International Federation for
Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture
(OMCT), both within the framework of the Observatory for the
Protection of Human Rights Defenders, express their support for Mr
Nizar Saghiyé and strongly condemns this summons. Requiring lawyers
to obtain prior authorisation from the President of their Bar
Association before making any media statements curtails their freedom
of expression.
The
modification of the Code of Ethics published by the Beirut Bar
Association on 3 March 2023, interferes with Article 19 of the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which was
ratified by Lebanon in 1972. In addition to the ICCPR, the UN Basic
Principles on the Role of Lawyers makes clear that whilst states bear
the primary obligation to protect lawyers, they share this with the
bar associations (Principle 25). In addition, Principle 23 states
that "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."
Currently,
the Lebanese government is debating a new media law behind closed
doors and there has been an increase in the number of arrests of
journalists. Recently the President of the Lebanese Bar Association
recently denounced the "chaos and confusion" allegedly
created by the proliferation of websites and social networking
platforms. This latest summons is a worrying development in an
already troubling trend towards limiting freedom of expression of
Nizar Saghiyé, the Bar's lawyers, amongst others.
We,
the undersigned human rights organisations,
-
Call
upon the Beirut Bar Council cancel the summons of Mr Nizar Saghiyé
and his colleagues,
-
Call
upon the Beirut Bar Council to revokethe amendment to the Code of
Ethics published on 3 March 2023, and ensure it is in line with
international standards,
-
Call
upon the authorities to make public the legislative debates within
the parliamentary commissions, in particular the debates on the
draft law on the media.
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