CNN Editor Fired After Tweet on Controversial Lebanese Leader

CNN has fired Octavia Nasr, a senior Mideast editor, after her post on Twitter about the death of one of the forefathers of Hezbollah raised concerns at the network about her journalistic credibility.

Nasr had tweeted: "Sad to hear of the passing of Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah... One of Hezbollah's giants I respect a lot." A blog post later explained her position on the subject, but it wasn't enough to convince the channel she could stay in her position.

In an internal CNN memo obtained by Mediate.com, Parisa Khosravi, senior vice president of CNN International Newsgathering, said, "At this point, we believe that her credibility in her position as senior editor for Middle Eastern affairs has been compromised going forward. As a colleague and friend we’re going to miss seeing Octavia everyday."

The memo also said Nasr, "fully accepts that she should not have made such a simplistic comment without any context whatsoever."

The Atlanta-based Nasr worked at CNN for 20 years, starting as an assignment editor on the international desk. Her job was mostly off the air, but she occasionally would appear as an onscreen analyst during discussions of Middle Eastern news.

Fadlallah died Sunday after a long illness. He was staunchly anti-American and linked to bombings that killed more than 260 Americans, a charge he denied.

CNN issued a statement on Tuesday calling it an error in judgment for Nasr to write such a simplistic tweet.

Nasr later said in a blog that she had been referring to Fadlallah's attitude toward women's rights. The cleric had issued edicts banning so-called "honor killing" of women and giving women the right to hit their husbands if attacked first.

She wrote that Fadlallah was "revered across borders yet designated a terrorist. Not the kind of life to be commenting about in a brief tweet. It's something I deeply regret."

But Khosravi said Wednesday that she spoke with Nasr and "we have decided that she will be leaving the company."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.