Arrests of Lebanese activists continue

Arrests of Lebanese activists continue

BEIRUT: An increasing number of activists in Lebanon are being arrested amid mounting criticism on social media of the government's handling of the country's worsening economy.. In the latest such incident, activist Michel Chamoun was arrested on Thursday by state security for writing comments on social media that were deemed humiliating to President Michel Aoun.. Lawyer Hassan Bazzi, a member of the Lawyers' Committee to Defend Protesters in Lebanon, told Arab News: "Freedom of expression in Lebanon is sacred, as stressed by the Bar Association.. The whereabouts of activist Kinda Khatib and her brother Bandar are still unknown after she was arrested by state security for publishing comments on social media.. Turkish court orders release of Kurdish opposition leader /node/1692496/middle-east. ANKARA: The Constitutional Court of Turkey announced on Thursday night that it had ordered the release of former presidential candidate and co-leader of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Selahattin Demirtas.. Demirtas - who has been called 'the Kurdish Obama' - was a robust challenger to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during Turkey's June 2015 elections, managing to extend the HDP's traditionally limited Kurdish constituency by reaching out to liberal and left-wing Turkish voters, which resulted in the