Lebanon: CFWIJ Is Concerned Over The Persistent Harassment Of Mariam Seif El Dine
Location: Lebanon
Date: March 4, 2021
Journalist Mariam Seif El Dine is a strong critic of Lebanon's political parties and is often targeted because of her coverage. On two different occasions, her family was physically assaulted. Mariam and her family had to flee their neighborhood after receiving threats that they would be killed otherwise. Mariam believes that supporters of a separatist organization were behind the attacks on her relatives. CFWIJ condemns the brutality that the journalist and her family have endured. We urge the Lebanese authorities to take action and apprehend the culprits.
Mariam believes that her coverage of the 2019 protests earned her scrutiny from the governing party. At the time, she was working with a Lebanese daily newspaper, Nidaa al Watan, where she would often criticize the ruling party. In September 2020, Mariam reported on the gruesome murder of a teenage girl in the suburbs of Beirut. In her investigation, she uncovered the involvement of some powerful people in the area who wished to cover up the killing. The incident was followed by a series of attacks on Mariam's family.
She stated that, on November 5, her brothers were tortured and threatened by the supporters of the separatist organization. Mariam believes her investigative story on the murder of the teenage girl brought this wrath on her family. The assailants did not relent and attacked her house again on December 5. This time, they broke the security camera installed at her home and tortured her brother. The violent supporters ordered Mariam’s family to leave the neighborhood or be prepared to face dire consequences. After the second attack, Mariam moved to a different area to keep herself and her family safe.
According to Mariam, she did not receive the help she desperately needed from the police and the press syndicate. In fact, the police have asked her not to return to the precinct unless someone is dead or wounded. She recalled when she tried to file her complaint, she was slapped with defamation charges instead.
The Coalition For Women In Journalism finds Mariam's ongoing situation very alarming and an unfortunate example of the persistent threats to press freedom in Lebanon. We demand law enforcement authorities in Lebanon to provide Mariam and her family with security and apprehend the perpetrators involved in the attacks.
The CFWIJ strongly condemns the police brutality against journalists. We demand the immediate return of the press cards seized from the security forces. Policies to intimidate journalists should be abandoned, and journalism should be practiced under the criteria of freedom of the press.
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