Lebanese journalist Firas Hatoum on his arrival outside the intelligence branch headquarters in Achrafieh, Beirut, on April 4, 2024. (Credit: Nancy Sabeh/X @sabehnancy)
Lebanese journalist Firas Hatoum appeared on Thursday morning before the intelligence services of the Internal Security Forces, where he was summoned in a case linked to the series Marhaba Dawleh, of which he is a producer, and which has been causing controversy since its launch.
Marhaba Dawleh is a weekly sitcom written and directed by Mohammad Dayekh. According to the channel's website, the show "tackles, through the diaries of a group of security agents in an imaginary police station, the ambiguous relationship between the citizen and the state, in a social and comedic approach." At the end of January, the Lebanese state lodged a complaint against LBCI, claiming that the program "insults national symbols, in particular, the Lebanese flag and the national anthem," and denigrates the ISF. The complaint was quickly dismissed by the Lebanese courts.
"As producer of the Marhaba Dawleh series, I received a call from the intelligence services, who summoned me on Thursday, based on a tip-off from the government commissioner at the military court, Fadi Akiki," Firas Hatoum wrote on Twitter on Wednesday. And on Thursday morning, he appeared before the police in Achrafieh, according to several media outlets, including LBCI. Speaking to this channel, he said he knew nothing more about the reasons for his summons, believing it could be linked to Marhaba Dawleh and "the uniforms and dummy weapons" used during filming. "I think they want to know where they're from" and that the ISF may consider the use of police fatigues as "identity theft."
This article originally appeared in French in L'Orient-Le Jour.