The Committee to Protect Journalists joined 59 local and international media outlets and human rights organizations in a statement supporting Lebanon’s independent media outlets Daraj and Megaphone amid intensifying legal harassment against them.
A lawsuit by several lawyers against Daraj and Megaphone, before the Public Prosecutor’s Office, accused the outlets of “undermining the financial standing of the state” and “receiving suspicious foreign funds with the aim of launching media campaigns that would shake confidence in Lebanon,” among other allegations.
The statement calls on Lebanese authorities to protect independent media outlets and support the country’s economic recovery by ending the weaponization of baseless charges to silence independent media.
Read the full statement here.