The authorities continued to repress the protest movement that began in October 2019 through repeated summonses of activists to security and military institutions on charges of criminal defamation, as well as the use of excessive force against largely peaceful protesters, including with live...

The Lebanese Parliament’s Administration and Justice Committee is on the verge of concluding discussions behind closed doors on a new media law that, if approved by the Parliament’s General Assembly in its current state, would severely curtail freedom of expression and press freedom in Lebanon and...

The Israeli army fired artillery shells containing white phosphorus, an incendiary weapon, in military operations along Lebanon’s southern border between 10 and 16 October 2023, Amnesty International said today. One attack on the town of Dhayra on 16 October must be investigated as a war crime...

The Lebanese authorities must urgently investigate the violent premeditated assault during a freedom march on 30 September organized by more than 24 civil society organizations to protest the recent crackdown on personal and political freedoms in Lebanon, Amnesty International said today. The...

(Beirut, September 5, 2023) – Lebanese authorities are systematically attacking the fundamental human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) people, the Coalition to Defend Freedom of Expression in Lebanon, comprised of fifteen Lebanese and international organizations,...

Escalating Attacks on Free Expression  (Beirut, August 31, 2023) – Lebanese authorities’ arrest and investigation of prominent comedian Nour Hajjar, solely in retaliation for his jokes, represents a new escalation in Lebanon’s crackdown on public criticism, the Coalition to Defend Freedom of...

Representatives of the families of people forcibly disappeared in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen gathered in Beirut today to demand that their governments uphold their rights to truth, justice and reparation, during an event organized by Amnesty International to mark the International Day of the...

Responding to the violent attack by Jnoud El-Rab, a far-right Christian group, against an LGBTI-friendly bar in Beirut yesterday, Aya Majzoub, Amnesty International’s deputy regional director for the Middle East & North Africa, said:  “Last night’s attack on Madame Om, a bar considered to be a...

The Lebanese authorities must immediately halt all prosecutions of journalists, human rights defenders, activists, and others who are critical of state officials, Amnesty International today, as the organization launches #MyOpinionIsNotaCrime, a new campaign that calls on the Lebanese Parliament to...

Ahead of the three-year anniversary of the catastrophic explosion in Beirut’s port that killed at least 235 people and damaged more than half of the city, Aya Majzoub, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa, said: “The Lebanese authorities have had three years...

Lebanese authorities must urgently prioritize the health of prisoners as deaths in Ministry of Interior-run prisons nearly doubled in 2022 compared to 2018, the year before the ongoing acute economic crisis began, Amnesty International said today. Judicial authorities must conduct prompt, impartial...

The Beirut Court of Appeals’ decision to dismiss the petition by lawyers seeking the annulment of apparently unconstitutional amendments to lawyers’ code of ethics is a missed opportunity to uphold the rule of law and human rights of lawyers in Lebanon, 14 members of the Coalition for Freedom of...

The Lebanese Armed Forces have recently and summarily deported hundreds of Syrians back to Syria, where they are at risk of persecution or torture. The deportations come amid an alarming surge in anti-refugee rhetoric in Lebanon and other coercive measures intended to pressure refugees to return,...