Lebanon Release Detained Journalist

Lebanon’s General Security should immediately release Nada Homsi, a journalist from the US, who was arrested on November 16, 2021, and whose detention is now arbitrary, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said.

Homsi is a US freelance journalist who has worked with several Arab and international outlets, including most recently, the US-based National Public Radio (NPR).

General Security officers did not allow Homsi to contact her family or a lawyer for six days after her arrest. They also interrogated her without the presence of a lawyer, in violation of article 47 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. When she insisted on her right to a lawyer, she was told that “these rights do not apply at General Security”.

Journalists and activists in Lebanon are increasingly under attack by state and non-state actors.