Don’t Blame the Sureté Generale for Censorship

Claudette Naufal, director of the Beirut International Film Festival, says that it is politicians, not law enforcement that should be blamed:

Every time we have had problems with censorship, it’s not [the Sureté Generale’s] decision. They always give us the permits, and then something happens like it did in June, when the Iranian ambassador intervened and had [the film Green Days] stopped. […] If a minister interferes and says they should block it, they can do nothing about it. This is what we should worry about.

I confess that before reading that, my anger was directed at the wrong culprit.