Journalist seriously injured during a pro-Syrian rally

Reporters Without Borders said it was sickened by an attack today on television journalist, Omar Harqous, of the channel Future News, owned by the Courant du Futur party headed by Saad Hariri. The journalist was covering a demonstration by militants of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party in the Hamra district of western Beirut who were trying to prevent council staff from tearing down political posters, his family and colleagues said. He was set upon by around 15 youths who punched and kicked him, after identifying him as a journalist. He was left with a broken nose and his body and face covered with bruises. He was taken to Beirut's American university hospital where he was undergoing tests. “This cowardly assault comes just a few months after an attack on the offices of several media affiliated to the Courant du Futur, including Future News”, the worldwide press freedom organisation said. “Press freedom in Lebanon is threatened by these increasingly frequent attacks against journalists. It is vital that the authorities quickly open an investigation to identify and try Omar Harqous's assailants”, the organisation said. Threats from Hezbollah militia stopped broadcasts and publication for five days in May 2008 of terrestrial and satellite Future TV, satellite news channel Future News, the daily al-Moustakbal and Radio Orient.