Nawaat.org was sent a letter from a lawyer representing Antoine Sfeir

Nawaat.org, a Tunisian blog that received the 2011 Netizen Prize from Reporters Without Borders, was sent a letter from a lawyer representing Antoine Sfeir, a journalist and academic with dual French and Lebanese nationality who edits the magazine Les Cahiers de l'Orient. It demanded the withdrawal of a 20 March article by Lebanese journalist René Naba within 48 hours under threat of a libel action. After getting no reply, his lawyer sent the same warning to Dreamhost, a US-based company that hosts the Nawaat.org website. According to Sfeir, the article, entitled “The Ben Ali dictatorship’s Lebanese sycophants,” insinuated that he had personally received money from Ben Ali. Four other websites that had posted the article – Oumma (www.oumma.com), Palestine-Solidarité (www.palestine-solidarite.org), Izuba (www.izuba.info) and Reneaba (www.renenaba.com) – received the same warning. In a joint statement, the five websites said they would not withdraw the disputed article and would fight for freedom of expression.