Annan, France deplore attack on Lebanese female journalist

The UN secretary general Kofi Annan deplored the explosion which targeted the Lebanese female journalist Mai Shedyaq while she was in her car north of Beirut. The attack resulted in gave injuries inflected on her.

Annan said in a statement issued by his spokesman on Sunday that such ugly acts constitute "a pattern of onslaught not only against Lebanese citizens but also against the principles of a democratic, open society, which, most importantly, includes the freedom of the press."

The statement called on the Lebanese government to follow up the file of this case and not to be tolerant with its executors and bring them before the judiciary and punish them. The statement of the UN official came hours after Shedyaq's assassination attempt.

In Paris, the spokesman for the French foreign ministry issued a statement in which it strongly condemned the aggression against Shedyak, noting that his country stands beside the Lebanese authorities to "reveal the fact about this terrorist act."

The spokesman considered that the explosion came as an attempt to undermine the freedom of the press in Lebanon following the assassination of the Lebanese journalist Samir Qasir who holds the French and Lebanese nationalities and was killed as a result of a bomb in his car.

The international reaction to Shedyak's assassination attempt came after the Journalists without border expressed in a statement shock over the incident which was described as brutal and considered that the Lebanese journalists are working in an insecure atmospheres.

The Journalists Union in Syria also condemned " the brutal assassination attempt which targeted Shedyak's life."