THE HAGUE: A Lebanese journalist pleaded not guilty yesterday to charges of contempt for publishing witness details at a tribunal set up to try the killers of slain former prime minister Rafiq Hariri.
“Our only crime is that we respected the highest standards of our profession and we highlighted some of the misconducts of this court,” Karma Al Khayat, deputy editor in chief of Al Jadeed TV, told an initial hearing at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon in The Netherlands.
Khayat and the station’s parent company New TV S.A.L. have been charged with two counts of contempt and obstruction of justice for publishing details of alleged witnesses in the trial of five members of Hezbollah for Hariri’s 2005 slaying.
The pro-Hezbollah Al Akhbar newspaper and its editor in chief Ibrahim Mohamed Al Amin have been charged with one count of contempt and obstruction of justice.
They are accused of “knowingly and wilfully interfering with the administration of justice by broadcasting and/or publishing information on purported confidential witnesses”.
AFP
