Lebanon arrests US journalist over allegedly covering protests for Israeli daily

Lebanon’s State Security agency confirmed reports on Monday that it arrested an American freelance journalist for allegedly live-streaming the recent violent protests in Beirut for the Israeli daily Haaretz.

“Following social media news about a person who had been live-streaming the events in downtown Beirut for the Israeli Haaretz daily, a State Security patrol managed to track and locate the whereabouts and suspected an individual who had filmed the same footage that appeared on the enemy’s newspapers’ page. He had then been brought in for questioning,” the Lebanese National News Agency NNA reported citing a statement issued by the State Security.

Lebanese security authorities identified the US citizen who claimed to be a freelance journalist, as Nicholas A.

Lebanon’s State Prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat referred the American citizen to the country’s military intelligence for questioning and investigation, the department said.

The area outside Lebanon’s parliament was packed with journalists, many of whom are correspondents for international news agencies.

International coverage of the three-month-old protests in Lebanon has picked up in the past two days as the violence worsened.

An eyewitness, speaking on condition of anonymity fearing reprisals, said the young man was taken away by men dressed in black who put him in a civilian car and drove away.

(With The Associated Press)