Editor jailed over assassination story

The Lebanese editor of the London-based Asharq al-Awsat newspaper has been sentenced in absentia to one year in jail for falsely reporting that Lebanon’s president was the target of an attempted assassination, judicial officials said in Beirut.

Ibrahim Awad, head of the Beirut bureau of the pan-Arab daily, was charged with “disturbing national security and harming the president’s dignity” in a December 31, 2001, report that said President Emile Lahoud was targeted by assassins while on holiday in Monte Carlo that month.

Lahoud’s office at the time denied the report and Asharq al-Awsat promptly published the denial on its front page. Awad said he had not been aware of the report, which was filed from the newspaper’s London office.

A publication court that handles such cases sentenced Awad to one year in jail and fined him £15,000 (€22,400).

Awad’s lawyer, Ibrahim Kenaan, said his client did not appear in court because he was not notified that there was a trial session.

Awad has five days to object or appeal against the verdict, starting the day he is notified, Kenaan said.

Although Asharq al-Awsat is owned by Saudi publishers, it is published and distributed in Lebanon under a local franchise, rendering it subject to Lebanese laws. It is one of the most respected daily newspapers in the Arab world.