The following article was printed in Al-Akhbar English on November 10, 2011. To act in support of the campaign, sign on to this statement.

A lawsuit against BDS activists in Beirut has ignited a debate about freedom of expression and is shaping up to be a landmark case in Lebanese courts.

The editor of Al Adab magazine, Samah Idriss, the Campaign to Boycott Israel Supporters in Lebanon, the Center for the Rights of Refuges-Aidoun, and the International Campaign for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Against Israel (BDS) are being sued by the head of the event management company 2U2C, Jihad Murr.

Perhaps unintentionally, Murr has breathed new life into the BDS campaign in Lebanon. The court case is no longer just a local concern; international campaigners are pledging to appear before the Lebanese court in support of their comrades.

“The court battle has brought the boycott campaign into the legal sphere. They have given the activists a platform. And this is the biggest triumph for them,” said Nizar Saghieh, the defense lawyer for Samah Idriss, activist Rania Masri, and Aidoun.

The activists had called for a boycott of a concert by pop group Placebo at Forum De Beirut on 9 June 2010, because the group had just performed in Tel Aviv.

For the defendants the original justification for the lawsuit, which involves compensation for losses by 2U2C, has become of secondary importance.

Their focus is no longer on the possibility of having to pay a sum of US$180,000 for alleged losses caused by their campaign. To them, this battle is deeper and more sweeping than it appears. It is about freedom of expression in Lebanon.

“After ignoring boycott campaigns for years, there is now someone who is trying to criminalize them before the law,” said Idriss.

“Boycotting is an intrinsic part of Western democracy. There, activists stand outside a theater calling on people not to watch an anti-Semitic film, for example. We have the right to carry out counter publicity. It is part of the democratic process that is guaranteed by the constitution,” he said.

Some activists are even considering a counter suit against Murr demanding compensation from him for lodging such an arbitrary lawsuit. The defendants have formed a committee to communicate with MPs and ministers and to collect their signatures for a petition in support of their position.

They have also formed a committee to monitor concert and festival schedules to pressure Lebanese event organizers not to book artists who have performed in Israel.

One such example is a concert by the Dutch DJ, Armin van Buuren, who performed in Eilat last summer. His concert, which is sponsored by Radio Mix FM, is scheduled for December 30 at the Biel complex in Beirut.

Murr insists that there is no connection between his lawsuit and the issue of freedom of expression in Lebanon.

“Freedom of expression does not mean that you have the right to infringe on the rights of others. It also does not mean frightening kids so that they don”t go to a concert,” he told al-Akhbar.

“You can decide not to buy a pair of Levi”s jeans. You are free to do so, but you do not have the right to come and tear the jeans I am wearing,” he said.

Murr also founded MTV television station in Lebanon, which has recently stunned audiences with racist reports

He claims that he has to make a huge effort to persuade bands to come to Beirut, who are then frightened away by protesters. This, he says, “is bad for the reputation of the country and humiliates us in front of foreigners.”

“Personally, the loss of a hundred thousand dollars will not affect me. But the organizations involved will feel the weight of the fine, even if it is small. The aim is to hurt them materially, so that they stop their campaigns,” said MurrI asked if the real reason behind the timing of the lawsuit, which he filed over a year after the Placebo concert, is to avoid paying taxes. He said it was not, the goal, he told me, is not materialistic, it is purely moral.

“Personally, the loss of a hundred thousand dollars will not affect me. But the organizations involved will feel the weight of the fine, even if it is small. The aim is to hurt them materially, so that they stop their campaigns,” he said.

Murr seems unaware of the growth of unprecedented support for the BDS campaign against Israel over the past two years. Omar Barghouti, co-founder of BDS, points out to the “important victoryBDS achieved against the French company, Alstom, which was involved in building the Jerusalem Light Rail, an Israeli project.”

The case is now in the hands of the Lebanese courts. Will they allow a lawsuit to go through when it clearly implies an infringement on the freedom of expression? Will the judiciary take the unprecedented step of criminalizing the cultural and academic boycott of Israel?

“Boycott campaigns fall under the Geneva conventions,” said Wissam Salibi, an activist for Aidoun.

“This is the international law that protects the right to boycott anyone who commits crimes against humanity and anyone who supports them,” he said.

The case is now in the hands of the Lebanese courts. Will they allow a lawsuit to go through when it clearly implies an infringement on the freedom of expression? Will the judiciary take the unprecedented step of criminalizing the cultural and academic boycott of Israel?

Samah Idriss said that the boycott campaigns will not stop despite the lawsuits.

“Next time, we will see to it that any group who supports Israel or contributes to improving its image does not come to Lebanon. The issue here is moral, and a matter of principle. It is not about business, as the plaintiff in this case claims. To believe in art for art”s sake is to ignore oppression,” she said.