Geneva, March 16: The International Commission of Jurists demanded the immediate and unconditional retraction of the charges against Dr. Muhamad Mugraby and the prompt cancellation of the action scheduled for a hearing on March 20, 2006. The organization urged the (Lebanese) ministers of justice and defense to promptly put an end to this perversion. Attorney Dr. Muhamad Mugraby had been charged with “slandering the military establishment and its officers” in relation to his intervention before the Mashrek Delegation of the European Parliament in Brussels on November 4, 2003, in which he criticized the Lebanese justice system, and the military justice in particular, the use of torture, and the abuse of civil and military courts for silencing dissenting voices. These charges constitute a gross violation not only of Lebanon’s international obligations related to the freedom of speech and opinion sanctified by the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights (Article 19) and the Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers (Principle 23), but also of the Lebanese Constitution itself. “The right to criticism is an integral part of the right of free speech and opinion and may not be penalized under any circumstance”, CIJ emphasized.

Moreover, the bringing of charges against attorney Dr. Muhamad Mugraby is not only incompatible with the general rule that civilians may not be prosecuted before military tribunals but is also in violation of the injunctions of the (UN) Human Rights Committee which demanded of Lebanon in 1997 not to refer civilians before military courts. “ In spite of the passage of over nine years on this injunction issued by one of the organs of the United Nations, the Lebanese Government continues to insist on prosecuting civilians before courts that answer to military authority”, CIJ added.

For CIJ, “this process before the military court constitutes an aberration and its article of indictment a gross violation of fundamental rights”.

This case of Dr. Mugraby, who is a lawyer famous for his defense of the victims of human rights violations, is well known to ICJ, follows several cases over many years where he has been prosecuted in judicial processes. In October 2003 ICJ was present at one of those proceedings and concluded that it does not respect the international norms of just proceedings.

“The charging of Dr. Mugraby for slander is only the last form of harassment that he has been subjected to with the objective of hindering him from practicing his profession as a lawyer, which should definitively cease,” the organization concluded.