Bangkok (EFE).- An Australian court on Wednesday ordered public broadcaster ABC to pay a fine of AU$150,000 (about $100,000) to journalist Antoinette Lattouf, who was unlawfully fired in 2023 after sharing a post critical of Israel on social media.
The dismissal occurred three days into a five-day casual radio stint after Lattouf shared a Human Rights Watch report on social media that claimed Israel was using starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza.
Although the journalist’s lawyers had sought more than double the amount set by the court, the fine is a new victory for the journalist, who in June won her lawsuit against the public broadcaster, which was at that time ordered to pay her an initial AU$70,000 in damages.
“Whatever the penalty, for me this was never about money – it’s always been about accountability and the integrity of the information our public broadcaster gives us,” Lattouf said in a statement ahead of the ruling on Tuesday.
The Australian Federal Court in June ruled that ABC violated the Fair Work Act by dismissing Lattouf “for reasons including that she held a political opinion opposing the Israeli military campaign in Gaza”.
The journalist had argued she had been unfairly dismissed due to her political opinions and her race, and pressure from pro-Israel groups exerted on the public broadcaster.
“It became clear that the complaints were an orchestrated campaign by pro-Israel lobbyists to have Ms Lattouf taken off air,” Justice Darryl Rangiah said in the June ruling.
However, Rangiah rejected Lattouf’s allegations that the reasons for her termination included her race or national extraction being Lebanese.
The ABC, which according to Lattouf and 9News has spent AU$2 million in taxpayer funds on its defense of the case, sought a fine of about a third of what the court stipulated on Wednesday, and now has 28 days to pay the compensation. EFE
hp/tw