May 3 marked the International Day of Press Freedom in European democratic countries; there were demonstrations in front of the Iranian Embassy in Paris, demanding the release of journalists imprisoned in Iran. On May 6, Lebanon will commemorate its martyrs. There are many martyrs from journalism, and we shall not forget them. On May 16, 1966 the hand of treachery struck down Kamal Mrouwe, the founder of Al-Hayat newspaper, who fell victim to his writings and opinions. The hand of treachery has also struck down giants of journalism like Salim Lawzi and Riad Taha, and recently our dear colleagues Samir Kassir and Gebran Tueni, and almost killed May Chidiac, after disfiguring her body. The cowardly and murderous method of silencing free expression and opinion belongs to oppressive regimes that fear the opinions of others and the truth revealed by courageous journalists to the peoples of these regimes. For these regimes, murder and imprisonment are the best deterrents to free opinions. Resisting, silencing and killing a free press happen in various places, from the Middle East to Russia and Latin America. As long as there are oppressive regimes, these types of liquidation and methods of concealing facts will continue. However, today, with the development in the tools of journalism in the world and the transfer of news via the internet, satellites and various television stations, it is difficult for the tools of oppression to limit the revelation of facts and silencing of other voices, no matter how hard they try. Today, we will not forget our dear friends and colleagues, such as Samir Kassir and Gebran Tueni, who fell like other leading journalist martyrs, led by Kamal Mrouwe. Revealing who was behind this treachery is very useful to protect the freedom of speech and expression. The Special Tribunal for Lebanon in the Rafiq Hariri assassination case is also, according to the reports of all the international judges who have been involved in this matter, connected to all of the crimes that followed the brutal assassination. Kassir and Tueni fell to the cause of the Cedar Revolution, after Hariri's assassination. Whoever says today that the STL threatens Lebanon's stability should take responsibility for the continuing method of killing and silencing free opinions and concealing facts. The peoples of the region need to know the truth and the journalist's responsibility is to know what to say and what to reveal. The freedom of the press does not mean that journalists should violate the respect of ethics, as with the disaster of the Ethiopian Airlines crash in Lebanon, when some Lebanese newspapers described the scenes of the disaster as if they had no regard for the families of the victims. Journalists must be responsible, but silencing, killing and imprisoning them are cowardly acts that should be stopped, for the sake of social stability. The killing of those who have been cut down by treachery, and the martyrs, headed by Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, has led to the shaking of the country's security. If the policy of silencing journalists using murder and liquidation continues, what kind of security and stability will society have? If we abandon the STL because its verdicts, as some are saying, might threaten the stability and security of the country, then let us close the newspapers and satellite stations and praise what governments do and return to the Middle Ages, when we ruled each other through liquidation and terror. Supporting the STL is a legitimate right and is a right of the Lebanese people, who have had politicians and journalists as martyrs; they were buried and their cause buried with them, for the sake of stability created by regional balances of power, which have done as they pleased. The STL is there so that neither the cause of the martyrs of Lebanon nor that of free expression is buried!
