CPJ joined 13 local and international organizations in urging the Lebanese Parliament to ensure the draft media law under consideration upholds free expression.
The draft law, submitted to the parliamentary committee in May 2025, included significant advancements in protecting free expression in Lebanon, including abolishing pretrial detention and prison sentences for all speech-related violations. It also repealed criminal defamation and insult provisions from Lebanon’s penal code and military judiciary law.
But on August 31, members of parliament received proposed amendments that would roll back those gains. The changes would reinstate detentions, unlawfully restrict the work of media organizations facing legal complaints, and require licensed television stations to submit regular reports to the Information Ministry and the National Council for Audiovisual Media.
“Lebanon’s parliament should adopt a media law that includes rights protections that Lebanese rights and media groups have long fought for,” the statement said. “They should immediately lift the secrecy shrouding discussions of the draft media law and reject suggestions that would further restrict the right to freedom of expression and media freedom, including pretrial detention and provisions that criminalize insult and defamation.”
Read the full letter in English and Arabic.
This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.
CPJ Staff | Radio Free (2025-09-16T10:00:33+00:00) CPJ, partners call on Lebanese Parliament to ensure media law protects press freedom. Retrieved from https://www.radiofree.org/2025/09/16/cpj-partners-call-on-lebanese-parliament-to-ensure-media-law-protects-press-freedom/
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