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Lebanese Army Occupies Television Station, Arrests Seven
BEIRUT, March 13 (News Agencies) - Lebanese troops were in control of the country's most popular television station Tuesday and seven of its employees were in military custody after a dispute over censorship between politically-opposed shareholders, the channel's managing director said.
The head of Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation International (LBCI), Pierre Daher, said that troops were deployed in force around the building in the capital's northern suburbs, as well as on the roof and the various floors.
Daher said the army had moved in late Monday and arrested a sports reporter, a cameraman, a producer, three technical staff and his personal chauffeur, after he tried to sack security guards appointed by Health Minister Soleiman Frangie.
Daher, who has a 49% stake in the channel, founded by anti-Syrian former militia leader Samir Geagea, acted after winning a court case against the pro-Syrian Frangie and Deputy Prime Minister Issam Fares, who each have 10%.
Daher brought the case after Frangie and Fares tried to appoint a censor with a right to vet news bulletins and programs with a political content before they were transmitted.
In a statement, the army said it had moved in to control the situation after armed men tried to oust the security guards. It failed to mention the arrests, or any seizure of weapons.
The LBCI denied that any of its employees were armed, saying, "The law is our only weapon."
On Tuesday, the security guards were still in place, mingling with troops and intelligence personnel at the entrance to the building and preventing access to non-employees.
The television station was transmitting normally but the situation was described as tense.
Geagea is serving four life sentences for the 1989 murder of Elias Zayek, who was once a member of his Lebanese Forces militia, the 1990 killing of rival Christian leader Dany Chamoun, the 1991 failed assassination of former interior minister Michel Murr and for his "indirect participation" in the killing of former prime minister Rashid Karame in 1987.
He is the only wartime militia leader to have been tried since the country's 1975-1990 civil war ended, leaving Syria in effective control of Lebanon, where it has 35,000 troops.
In contrast, other former militia leaders, both Muslim and Christian, have become government ministers, including Frangie, whose Marada group was bitterly hostile to Geagea's Lebanese Forces.
Pro-Syrian Christian politicians became minority shareholders in LBCI in less than transparent circumstances following Geagea's arrest in 1994.
Lebanon's virtually bankrupt state television, Tele-Liban, went off the air on March 1st as part of a widespread restructuring of state organs. It is due to resume on May 25th.
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