BEIRUT: Labor Minister Salim Jreissati condemned Saturday what he described as an assault on an Al-Manar television station crew by Lebanese Forces security personnel, saying the perpetrators should be punished.

“It is an assault on the freedom of the media and an attempt to terrorize [those] who seek to reveal the truth,” Jreissati said in a statement, adding that one of the reporters was beaten.

Strida Geagea’s security personnel discovered three people Thursday taking pictures from a car parked on a hilltop overlooking her residence in Yasouh al-Malak.

“When the Lebanese Forces’ security personnel approached the television crew, I showed them my journalist’s identification and told them about the television feature the team was working on,” said Abu Taam.

According to Abu Taam, the LF security personnel assaulted them. Later, the three reporters were briefly detained at a police station in Kesrouan for taking suspicious photographs.

In his statement Saturday, Jreissati said protecting the free and responsible media should take place by punishing aggressors.

According to judicial sources, the Mount Lebanon public prosecutor has transferred the case to the Military Tribunal for further investigation.