AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - An international court judge acquitted a Lebanese journalist on Friday of interfering with the administration of justice by revealing the identities of witnesses in the 2005 assassination of former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri.
But Judge Nicola Lettieri ruled that Karma Khayat, a journalist at Lebanon's Al-Jadeed TV station, had committed contempt of court by ignoring a court order to remove the 2012 broadcasts from the station's website. The TV station was acquitted of corporate liability on both counts.
Prosecutors at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon had argued that exposure of the witnesses would make others reluctant to testify in the case over Hariri's assassination, but Lettieri said he had been able to find no evidence to confirm this.