11 February 2009
BEIRUT: The chairman of the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation said on Monday that the network is under "armed occupation" by 17 security guards who were sacked a year ago, but have continued to come to work armed with weapons. Pierre Daher, the chairman of LBC, is locked in a bitter legal dispute over the ownership of the station with Lebanese Forces (LF) leader Samir Geagea. The security guards were fired because they are LF members who sided with Geagea.
But despite a court order dating from a year ago that banned them from entering the premises, the men have continue to turn up to work armed with weapons to deter anyone trying to stop them. LBC has stopped paying the men's salaries and says that the LF is now paying them to continue to come to work. It accuses the security guards of sabotaging some of its studios and writing offensive slogans on the walls.
In a statement Daher criticized Interior Minister Ziad Baroud and his predecessor Hassan Sabaa for failing to prevent the men from coming to work.
"The problem is with those responsible for law enforcement ... specifically ministers Sabaa and Baroud," the statement said. "If they are not capable of implementing a single decision in one Lebanese area, how would they be able to hold elections throughout Lebanon?"
LBC said they were carrying out an investigation which had revealed that one of the armed men had incited another employee, identified only as T.T., to damage a studio.
But the LF denied the network's version of events.
"LBC's chairman of the board is fabricating stories and issuing statements only to deceive and misguide public opinion to influence the legal conflict with the Lebanese Forces," the party said in a statement released on Monday.
Broud has said that he is approaching the dispute "with total neutrality," and explained that the implementation of the court orders is a matter for the judiciary alone.
The dispute centers around a bitter feud between Daher and Geagea. The station used to belong to the LF, but the party transferred ownership of the station when it became apparent that Geagea would face trial for several assassinations.
Geagea eventually received four life sentences and was held for 11 years in solitary confinement, during which time Daher built the station into a successful international broadcasting network. But after the Syrians had been ousted from the country in 2005, Geagea's conviction was overturned because it was deemed to be politically motivated, and he was granted a pardon.
When he was released, he demanded that LBC be returned to the LF, but Daher refused, saying he would "not allow the station to be subservient to a political party."
Geagea filed a lawsuit against Daher seeking to restore ownership to the LF, and the case is awaiting resolution.
Copyright The Daily Star 2009.
