International Federation of Human Rights Special Emissary in Beirut to Study the Conditions of Human Rights Defenders and Freedom of Association and Speech

Beirut, December 23, 2003

A special emissary of the International Federation of Human Rights Leagues, Paris, Mr. Gilles Manceron, arrived in Beirut on a special mission to study the conditions of human rights defenders, and more particularly those of Dr. Muhamad Mugraby and Ms. Samira Trad, and the general conditions of the freedom of association and speech in Lebanon.

Last night, Mr. Manceron met with the leadership of the Campaign for Judicial Integrity and twelve young men and women who were among the persons who went on a hunger strike while holding a protest vigil in Antelias last August during the arrest and detention of Dr. Mugraby.

Mr. Manceron also met this morning with Tanios Al Khouri, Chief Justice of the Court of Cassation, Tarek Ziadeh, Chief of the Judicial Inspection Bureau, and Mr. Elias Bou Nacif, chief of the twelfth appellate panel in Beirut. He also met General Sayed, director general of the directorate of security. He was unable, however, to meet general prosecutor Adnan Addoum.