Beirut, Lebanon (Enmaeya News) — Fourteen Lebanese and international human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, urged Lebanon’s parliament on Monday to ensure that a draft media law under consideration fully protects freedom of expression.
The groups called for the decriminalization of defamation, blasphemy, insult, and criticism of public officials. They also stressed the need to prohibit pretrial detention for speech-related violations and to remove excessive restrictions on establishing media outlets. The Administration and Justice Committee is scheduled to resume discussions on the draft law on September 16, 2025.
“Lebanon’s criminal defamation laws have repeatedly been used to target government critics, activists, and journalists,” the organizations said. “Journalists are often summoned before security agencies in retaliation for their reporting. Parliament must end these practices by passing a media law that aligns with international human rights standards, particularly on freedom of expression and media freedom.”
Lebanon first began discussing a new media law in 2010, after former parliament member Ghassan Moukheiber and the Beirut-based Maharat Foundation, which focuses on media freedom, submitted proposals to amend the country’s outdated Publications Law. In January 2023, parliament established a subcommittee to review and amend the draft law, which was formally submitted to the Administration and Justice Committee on May 27, 2025.
The May 2025 draft included key reforms, such as abolishing pretrial detention and prison sentences for speech-related violations and repealing criminal defamation and insult provisions from Lebanon’s penal code and military judiciary law.
Source: Amnesty International
Since July 29, the committee has held three confidential meetings on the latest draft. Human rights groups have called for transparency, noting that public access to these discussions is essential to allow effective participation and oversight, given the law’s impact on fundamental rights.
On August 31, parliament members received proposed amendments to the draft law. While the amendments’ title suggested they were submitted by the information minister, the minister denied authorship.
The proposed changes include reintroducing pretrial detention for violations “under aggravated circumstances, such as infringing on individuals’ dignity or private lives.” Under current Lebanese law, pretrial detention is allowed only for offenses punishable by more than one year in prison and is explicitly prohibited for media-related violations.
“If adopted, these amendments would represent a major setback for freedom of expression and media freedom,” the organizations warned. The amendments also fail to define what constitutes “infringing on individuals’ dignity or private lives,” raising concerns about vague provisions that could chill free speech and be misused to silence peaceful dissent.
Additional amendments would restrict media organizations under legal complaint from publishing materials about complainants during ongoing judicial proceedings, a move human rights groups say would further curtail free expression.
The amendments also propose requiring licensed TV stations to submit detailed broadcast schedules to the Information Ministry and the National Council for Audiovisual Media. Electronic media would face prior licensing rather than a simple notification regime, raising concerns about arbitrary restrictions on who can operate media outlets.
International standards emphasize that fees and licensing requirements for broadcast media must be reasonable, objective, transparent, and nondiscriminatory to avoid infringing on media freedom.
“Parliament should adopt a media law that protects the rights Lebanese media and rights groups have long fought for,” the organizations said. They urged lawmakers to end the secrecy surrounding the draft’s discussions and reject amendments that would restrict freedom of expression, including pretrial detention and provisions criminalizing insult and defamation.
