Hezbollah Wants Case against Al-Mayadeen Dropped

Hezbollah Wednesday urged Lebanese Information Minister Ramzi Joreige to drop a libel case brought forward by Arabsat satellite communications operator against Al-Mayadeen television channel.

“Al-Mayadeen channel did not violate any legal terms of the contract signed between them and the Lebanese government,” Hezbollah MP Hasan Fadlallah said at a news conference.

“We [Hezbollah] call on the information minister to close the case permanently,” he added, according to The Daily Star.

Arabsat has suspended services to Al-Mayadeen reportedly after a guest on one of the channel’s talk shows blamed Saudi mismanagement for the deadly hajj crush that left over 2,000 pilgrims dead.

Al-Mayadeen Director Ghassan bin Jeddou said the move aimed to “silence the independent television.”

He told a news conference earlier this week that pressure against Al-Mayadeen “existed even before the channel was officially launched” in June 2012. Its headquarters is in Beirut.