The indictment issued against Lebanese daily al-Akhbar could only be portrayed as exceptional, for contrary to standard procedure, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon might seek to mpose a €200,000 fine on the newspaper, reports said.

Al-Akhbar sources divulged to MTV website that the newspaper will be subject to censure that will not affect al-Jadeed TV. However, the administration might take advantage of the sticky situation to close up shop, using the large fine as pretext, hence evading all accumulated debts as well as cutting down on employees.

A period of long silence is said to stretch ahead before the issuance of another newspaper with Ibarhim al-Amine as its editor in chief. However, dispensing employees will only come as a means of reducing expenses.

Al-Akhbar newspaper has been suffering from a serious lack of adequate funding which in turns caused multiple debts to pile-up, despite attempts to attract capitals and funds through new pages.

Al-Amine will resort to an alternative permit to establish a new newspaper, which could be an edited version of al-Akhbar. However, such a scenario hinges on the STL's verdict.