By Al Ahed Staff, Agencies
The Lebanese Press Syndicate and the Lebanese Editors Syndicate have rejected the newly passed media law, declaring that they will not recognize it and will work to overturn it "as if it never existed."
The two unions announced their position during a joint press conference on Tuesday, a day after the Lebanese Parliament approved the legislation without amendments.
Editors Syndicate chief Joseph al-Qassifi, speaking on behalf of both organizations, condemned the law as an infringement on press freedom, particularly because it retains prison sentences for journalists.
"All options are being studied," al-Qassifi said.
"The nation's deputies have miscalculated, and we call on them to correct this egregious error," he said, warning that "those who consider themselves beneficiaries of this law will soon discover that they are its first victims."
Al-Qassifi emphasized Lebanon's historic role as a space for free expression, saying the country "was and will remain an oasis of freedoms" and that the new legislation undermines that tradition.
He described the law as a "disgrace falsely named a media law" that "places the journalist under the guillotine of imprisonment."
The two unions said they would pursue their opposition to the law "to its end" in defense of journalistic independence and media freedom.
Al-Qassifi also described the legislation's passage as "Black Tuesday" for Lebanese journalism, arguing that the final version failed to incorporate amendments that had previously been agreed upon.
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