Collective Action

President of the Lebanese Center for Human Rights Wadih al-Asmar was questioned by the Internal Security Forces’ Anti-Cybercrimes Bureau Friday, two weeks after he was summoned to appear over a post he made on social media.

Asmar told The Daily Star after the interrogation that he had been summoned after a complaint was filed against him by the Catholic Information Center, because he tweeted a screenshot of a Facebook post that made a joke about St. Charbel. The original post had been made by online activist and comedian Charbel Khoury, who was interrogated about it in July.

Asmar arrived at the Anti-Cybercrimes Bureau in Furn al-Shubbak with three lawyers, who were not allowed inside the interrogation room, he said.

Throughout his questioning, activists had gathered outside the bureau “demanding the authorities to respect freedom of expression,” according to a tweet by the media advocacy and development organization Social Media Exchange (SMEX).