BEIRUT: Energy Minister Gibran Bassil has won a slander lawsuit he filed against Al-Shiraa magazine.

The National News Agency, citing a statement from Bassil’s office, said the magazine would be obliged to pay the minister LL10 million in damages for an article entitled “Will the son-in-law break the back of Aoun,” referring to Bassil and his father-in-law, Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun.

The writer and responsible editor at the magazine were each fined LL7 million for court costs.

The article contained photos and captions intimating that Bassil had received an armored car from a Syrian intelligence official, and money from political allies.