Marcel Ghanem to be Interrogated on December 18

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Prominent talk show host Marcel Ghanem will be interrogated on December 18 over hosting Saudi journalists who branded the Lebanese president and parliament speaker as "terrorists" during one of his show's episodes.

“The lawyer Joy Lahoud, representing MP Butros Harb's law firm, appeared before Baabda First Examining Magistrate Nicolas Mansour and submitted the firm's authorization to represent the journalist Marcel Ghanem,” the National News Agency reported.

Lahoud requested some time to “study the file and take the appropriate stance,” NNA said, adding that a session to interrogate Ghanem has been scheduled for December 18.

Ghanem had recently announced that he is accused of insulting the judiciary and the president.

“I'm not supposed to defend anyone and I'm rather a talk show host. I don't regret what I did on air and I only managed the episode. What is my crime?” Ghanem told Al-Arabiya television.

Justice Minister Salim Jreissati has said that Ghanem will only give his testimony and that no lawsuit has been filed against him.

“A lot of state officials have testified before the judiciary, the last of which was Telecom Minister (Jamal) al-Jarrah,” Jreissati explained.

“Ghanem is asked to testify in a case related to the publications law and there are no arrests in such cases,” the minister reassured.

Jreissati had asked the country's prosecutor general to launch an investigation against the two Saudi journalists who appeared on Ghanem's Kalam Ennas talk show, one of the most watched weekly TV programs in Lebanon.

The minister wrote in a two-page letter to the prosecutor that the two men, Ibrahim Al Merhi and Adwan al-Ahmari, have engaged in libel against top officials including President Michel Aoun and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.

The move came at a time when tensions were very high between Lebanon and Saudi Arabia over the resignation of Prime Minister Saad Hariri, announced from the Saudi capital Riyadh.

SourceNaharnet
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