Jean Assy Sentenced for Insulting Suleiman on Twitter
A web developer has been sentenced to two months in prison for insulting President Michel Suleiman on Twitter, a judicial source told Agence France Presse.
"Jean Assy was sentenced to two months in jail for defaming and insulting the president via Twitter," the source said.
"The court decision can be appealed within 10 days."
The case is thought to be the first time a Lebanese citizen has been sentenced for views expressed on a social network, though people have previously been charged for similar insults.
Assy said the case stemmed from tweets he wrote about Suleiman in January and February of last year.
"I wrote that the president is castrated, politically castrated, and I wrote the minister of interior is stupid, and things like this," he told AFP.
He has not yet been arrested and said he plans to appeal the decision.
"I'm not going to spend two months in jail because of a tweet. I'm going to fight it, I'm not going to allow him to punish someone who tweeted against him while he is ignoring all the problems in the country," Assy said of Suleiman.
Assy, 26, has nearly 6,000 followers and regularly tweets harsh and at times vulgar criticism of many local politicians.
He says he is not a political activist, but acknowledges his support for Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun, who are spared his online wrath.
The verdict was immediately criticized by Human Rights Watch, whose deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa called it a "negative development."
"Criminalizing and sending someone to jail for expression that someone deems insulting or inflammatory violates Lebanon's international obligations to protect expression," Nadim Houry told AFP.
"Lebanon has a decision to make," he added.
"Does it want to go down the route of so many other countries in the region... or does it want to preserve and maintain its reputation for a great tolerance for free expression in the Arab world?"
Assy said he hadn't anticipated the consequences of his tweets or planned to get into trouble.
"But in a way, it's good," he said.
"I'm showing people that the president is leaving all the problems in this country and pursuing my case."
12 February 2014, 18:22
11
Oh shut up already, you're demeaning any sort of debate before it even starts. Do you feel cool about your post or what?
12 February 2014, 18:23
66
He needs to be punished for insulting the president and for being a supporter of a terror organization.
12 February 2014, 18:29
11
No. This is wrong on so many levels. You go to prison for tweeting against the king or prince or whatever in the gulf states like saudi qatar bahrain jordan syria and egypt. Lebanon is above that. At least was. This is a democracy, and if we were to look at the 'greatest democracy' the US, p much everyone insult politicians and the president online or otherwise at least once a day anf NONE are sentenced to prison for this, even when the criticism is extremely racist. So stop yalking nonsense and deflecting the issue! Nobody should go to jail for tweeting abt the presidency! Free speech above all.
13 February 2014, 13:29
20
anonyme would have been horrified and scandalized if some pro-M14 had spent a night in jail for similar reasons. he's only trying to find a way to justify why he's happy with decision without admitting that he is biased and supporting double standards.
12 February 2014, 18:45
01
who cares what happened in Syria and Iran...this is Lebanon. We have our own rules, freedoms, national identity and by no means should we ever compare ourselves to anyone else.
12 February 2014, 18:47
43
In Syria, he would be dead.
In Iran, nothing. If he insults the supreme leader however is another story.
12 February 2014, 18:58
01
Censorship is a form of oppression, add jail time and it become tyranny. I am not in favor of insulting the president but in a free society, freedom of speech trumps hurt feelings. Mr. President, I am almost certain prosecuting this guy wasn't your idea so may I suggest that you inform the zealot responsible to go after the terrorists instead of non-combatant civilians?
12 February 2014, 19:03
22
I don't agree with this assy guy... But then again I really hate oppressors like Hizbshytan... Mr. President protect freedom of speech and leave Assy alone!!! Seriously!!!
12 February 2014, 19:18
00
Im for Jean Assy. Phil must be related to suleiman. The president or whoever politician cant take contructive critism. They say the truth when thrown in your face hurts and it must have really hurted President Sukeiman for you to be getting back at Jean. You got bombs going off in Lebanon, drug crime, poverty, damn syrian and palestinan refugge crisis, and lights/electricity issues...shutting off at any time of the day and, unemployment issues of there, even with people having college degrees cant even get a job and youre worried about someone critism. Get to the real issues and leave Jean alone. Take this insult/constructive critism. Thank God for free speech in America. I thought Lebanon was better than all other middle eastern countries with dictators. Apparently someone....like Mr. Suleiman has his panties bunch up in his rear fanny and try to be like Dictator.
12 February 2014, 19:27
24
100 percent actionman. President and all politicians are civil SERVANTS. They are not kings.
12 February 2014, 19:46
00
president , prime minister ,parliament speaker , ..and all politicians
get their salaries from the Lebanese people
hence Lebanese citizens have all the right to criticize their servents
since they pay them
god bless democracy
more jakie and more jean
12 February 2014, 19:54
33
What the hell is happening to Lebanon? The President can't be insulted without going to jail? What is this, Saudi Arabia?
12 February 2014, 19:56
33
Suleiman, you cant and you will never turn Lebanon into Saudi Arabia.
12 February 2014, 20:38
02
Guys let's be realistic and fair, no matter what M he belongs or supports freedom of speech and expression should never be punished....i think the president should be higher than that and this masquerade should not have even gotten to the judiciary system.....3eib there are a trillion bigger problem and fish to fry ...maskhara hal balad walla.....baddon sheyyl killoun min awwal wi jdide
12 February 2014, 20:59
03
I have to disagree with you the fact on your 2nd point. There is no penalty for insulting the US president as long as you don't make threats or defame him(which by the way in itself is illegal if done against anyone). This also applies to all EU countries and protected by freedom of expression. I am almost certain this also applies to Canada Australia and New Zealand.
I think people here have missed the point and unsurprisingly made it into an M8 M14 issue again. This is about your rights people and your freedom of speech. Wake up. This is a big deal and a disturbing development.
12 February 2014, 21:21
03
In Canada, many make fun of the Prime Minister and other politicians. Threatening or defaming is illegal no matter who it is... But, I can simply say Stephen Harper is an idiot in my opinion and that will be my right to say and will not be jailed for it.
I think the President of Leb. has better things to do than chase some dude for tweets! JMHO
12 February 2014, 21:22
01
Another thing, watch the followers of this guy increase substantially, so essentially he got free exposure (well, may be 2 months in the slammer)
12 February 2014, 22:43
02
@thefact Harper is not going to reduce you wireless bills; another thing he rejected is capping the ATM charges when using Interac @ 0.50 rather than 1.50 to 2.50 per transaction.... I hope he is gone comes next election
12 February 2014, 23:25
02
Have you noticed though guys how a normal country feels like. You judge politicians on the small things they do but that actually matter to the common man. The big things are generally always provided. Compare that to our beloved country where they don't get judged for anything. It doesn't matter how much they mess up it is almost guaranteed that the same people will be in power again and again. People get elected based on their proposed political portfolio and what they will do for me as a citizen in a modern state. In Lebanon it seems people cheer for thugs, ex warlords, criminals, corruption machines and so on. When will we learn?
12 February 2014, 23:27
02
This is ironic coming from you speakfreely. He might have poor manners but that should not get him a jail sentence. He should be able to speak freely in a country that supposedly had freedom of speech and tolerance
13 February 2014, 01:10
12
So a lack of freedom of speech is correct by virtue of the autocratic practices of one party?
13 February 2014, 01:13
11
Exactly!
Leaders are not saints. Especially given our situation, they all deserve the most vile of Jean Assy's insults.
My only issue with Jean Assy is that he didn't direct his insults towards Aoun and Nasrallah as well.
13 February 2014, 02:22
00
Im for Jean Assy. Phil must be related to suleiman. The president or whoever politician cant take contructive critism. They say the truth when thrown in your face hurts and it must have really hurted President Sukeiman for you to be getting back at Jean. You got bombs going off in Lebanon, drug crime, poverty, damn syrian and palestinan refugge crisis, and lights/electricity issues...shutting off at any time of the day and, unemployment issues of there, even with people having college degrees cant even get a job and youre worried about someone critism. Get to the real issues and leave Jean alone. Take this insult/constructive critism. Thank God for free speech in America. Get some confidence and take care of real...real...real issues like poverty, terrorism, employment, drugs and gangs and so on.
13 February 2014, 03:39
00
do u guys really think the president has ever heard of this guy, let alone goingvafter him?? :/
its a law, if u want it off the books we need to form a gov and change the law. of course this guy will not go to jail! its never happened before, as the article says hes the first. he did it for publicity.
13 February 2014, 13:26
20
first I never insulted suleiman, so this is defamation against me anonyme, and second what about supporting terrorism and posting comments that promote sectarian hatred? without listing names (there are too many), if those were to be arrested there wouldn't be much commenters left here.
13 February 2014, 16:59
10
you never insulted the president???))))
_mowaten_
the LAF cant be bought, but suleiman went to saudi in the days that followed the arrest of al majed, and came back with full pockets and a wide smile.
13 February 2014, 17:30
00
yep, how is that an insult? that IS a possibility, and i didn't accuse, i only said this could explain the totally unexpected big saudi donation. (i remember saying we couldn't possibly prove anything).
also, if he made the choice of accepting 3Bn$ for the lebanese army in exchange for the vermin's life, i'd still support it. it would have been nice to have him denounce his saudi masters, but what good would that do lebanon?
lebanon's higher interest is better served this way, and our soldiers deserve better equipment.
13 February 2014, 13:31
20
oh really? how many criticize and insult hezbollah figures every day? how come only one was killed, and it had to be when his friend took a gun out opened fire in front of the iranian embassy? lame justification tactics. you're just biased and hateful, and believe freedom of speech for only be for you and those who think like you.
13 February 2014, 15:04
00
What you all here ignore is that there is an old written law in Lebanon that prevents people from insulting the president. Anyone who insults him will face prosecution, so nothing illegal in what has been done but it's a shame to have such a law.
So contact your idle MPs who get paid hefty amounts of money and do nothing, tell them to do their job in modernizing and creating new laws.
