Hezbollah sues 'Der Spiegel' for libel

Once again, it's the German Der Spiegel magazine…

Der Spiegel, the magazine known since 2005 for fabricating imaginary scenarios linking between Hezbollah and the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, the magazine known for its claims and allegations, stories and novels, became in the hands of the judiciary…

Thus, after its lawsuit against the false witness Mohamad Zuhair Siddiq, Hezbollah continued its campaign of legally facing campaigns and decided to sue the German magazine and its writer Ulrike Putz.

In this context, former MP and lawyer Nazih Mansour told Al-Manar that the lawsuit came as Hezbollah has decided to respond through the law to all the defamation campaigns launched against it.

Hezbollah called on the Lebanese judiciary to investigate the case, arrest and try the suspects according to the legal norms and to listen to the witnesses from the international tribunal's team. It also called for banning the circulation of the mentioned magazine in Lebanese because of its sedition schemes.

Lawyer Mansour told Al-Manar that the Lebanese judiciary had no choice but to summon the witnesses and question them about the weekly's articles. "If the Special Tribunal of Lebanon's officials are the ones leaking the info published in the German weekly, then all investigations become null and void. Therefore, the STL rule would be useless whenever it's issued."

The case depends on a series of remarks:

- the article's headline directly accuses Hezbollah of assassinating former PM Rafiq Hariri;
- it's impossible for a media panel, regardless of its position, to launch accusations in such a sensitive issue that could have negative and catastrophic repercussions;

- the suspects claim that the investigations led to new results while it's known that investigations should remain secret until the final verdict is issued;

- The suspects added to their claims some facts with the aim of creating sedition and wasting the truth and they accused Hezbollah commandos of being behind tens of assassinations in Lebanon, which is also dangerous;

- The lawsuit points to the magazine's malice and malevolence as well as to its scheme to create sectarian sedition in Lebanon, given the writer's saying that Hariri's popularity was not welcomed by the Shia's leader in Lebanese Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah;

- They also adopted the Zionist-American logic in classifying Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.

http://www.almanar.com.lb/newsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=141401&language=en