Lebanon is a liberal Middle East country with unfettered Internet access, but state censorship is also rife on any topics that touch upon Israel or sensitive issues such as religion.

Oscar-winning films such as "Schindler's List," the music of late violinist Yehudi Menuhin, the songs of Enrico Macias... the list of artists and their works deemed to be inappropriate is long.

"There has been ruthless censorship in Lebanon for decades, using absurd criteria and under the pretext of national security," said Bassam Eid, production manager at movie distributors Circuit Empire.

Hollywood stars including Frank Sinatra, Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman have long been banned for their perceived support for Israel (which occupies Palestinian, Syrian and Lebanese territories) or because they were in a film directed by a Tel Aviv policy supporter.

The most recent production to be censored concerned not the Jewish state but Iranian Islamic republic, however. The Oscar-nominated "Persepolis" which annoyed Tehran for its critical portrayal of the Iranian revolution was briefly banned by Beirut in March.

"I know that with the Internet censorship may appear to be ridiculous, but we ban works damaging to religion because it is such a sensitive topic" in a multi-confessional state, General Wafiq Jizzini, said head of the general security department at the interior ministry.

Censorship is applied in Lebanon if a work is thought to incite religious dissent, damage morals or state security or contribute to Israeli propaganda.

"Sensitivities must be handled carefully," said Jizzini, who implied that he comes under pressure from the country's all-powerful religious leaders.

"Otherwise they'd make it very difficult. Imagine if we allowed cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed or the Dutch film 'Fitna'!"

"The Da Vinci Code" -- both the book and the film -- were also pulled after the church in Lebanon intervened, saying the work impinged on Christian beliefs.

"Lebanese society is too steeped in religion to accept attacks on the sacred," said one bookshop manager, speaking under cover of anonymity.

"In March, a special issue of the French magazine Le Point on Israel was seized."

Some works linked to Israel are available, however.

These include the novels of Israeli writer Amos Oz and the work "Israel: Etat de Choc" (Israel: Shock State) by France's Frederic Pons about the 2006 war against the Shiite group Hezbollah in Lebanon.

"Such and such a film can't be brought into the country, but because of satellite dishes even kids are able to see it," said Eid.

Music does not escape either. "About 80 percent of Death Metal is seized" because of anti-Christ content, according to one record store owner in Beirut who asked not to be named.

"To ban the Israeli Philharmonic is understandable, but not top world violinist Jascha Heifetz who's Jewish but not Israeli. Even so both Daniel Barenboim and Gilad Atzmon are OK because they're seen to be anti-Zionist!"

Some Lebanese works are also affected. A satirical play about the country's 1975-1990 civil war by Rabih Mroue was banned last year before later being allowed.

Jizzini denied that "Persepolis" was banned because he is close to Hezbollah which is backed by Iran, saying that a work by Lebanese writer Roger Akl was also censored for attacking the pro-US Saudi regime that supports the government.

He said he wanted "to be rid of this poisoned chalice," saying that "censorship should come under the ministry of culture," not interior.

However Culture Minister Tareq Mitri wants to abolish what he called an "outdated" practice.

"A draft law is in the works that would abolish censorship and set up an independent 'committee of wise men' instead," he said.

Observers say, however, although the degree of censorship in Lebanon is high compared to the West, many critics have been hypocritical by not drawing comparisons of censorship elsewhere in the ‘free’ world.

Many Lebanese see censoring Israeli propaganda as legitimate the way the US sees silencing Al Qaeda is vital for state security.

They argue that many regimes undergo international isolation and sanctions for policies much smaller in scale and type of those committed by the state of Israel, yet Tel Aviv goes by unpunished.

Some observers add that the international pressure that brought the end of South Africa’s Apartheid regime could also work in Israel, where a fifth of its citizens are oppressed for being of Arab origin.

Saddam’s Iraq in 1990 was instantly put under sanctions for invading Kuwait and then faced a 33-state military strike in 1991 to be forced out of Kuwait while Israel remains a brutal occupier of Palestinian territories since 1967, where an international outcry has been silenced by US vetoes at the UN.

Source: MiddleEastOnline