DIGITAL FREEDOM NETWORK: Sub-Saharan Africa Tunisian government targets dissenting voices by Shravanti Reddy, Digital Freedom Network URL: www.dfn.org/news/tunisia/dissenting-voices.htm (June 14, 2002) The June 4 arrest of journalist Zouhair Yahyaoui, founder and editor of the on-line newspaper TUNeZINE, highlights an alarming trend taking place in Tunisia. Journalists, human rights advocates, and opposition members are being jailed and harassed for expressing views that are in opposition to the government under the ruling Democratic Constitutional Rally (RCD) and President Zine El-Abiddine Ben Ali. Yahyaoui was charged with "knowingly putting out false news" and "stealing Internet connection time." According to Wired news, Mr. Yahyaoui was arrested at a cyber café in Tunis shortly after posting material that was critical of the government on the TUNeZINE Web site. He was one of the first editors willing to publish a letter written by Judge Mokhtar Yahyaoui to President Ben Ali that criticized the legal system in Tunisia. Upon his arrest, he was not informed of the charges against him and was prohibited from speaking with any of the twenty lawyers that stepped forward to represent him in court. In a June 13 court appearance, he was charged with "knowingly putting out false news" and "stealing Internet connection time." He has been released from detention until his trial that is set to begin on June 20. He is facing a sentence of up to 10 years. Yahyaoui has been the subject of government censorship since the founding of TUNeZINE in July 2001. The on-line newspaper, which focuses on democracy and freedom in Tunisia, provides an independent voice by publishing material critical of the government. The constant threat of censorship has forced him to be creative in maintaining public access to the TUNeZINE Web site. For example, government attempts to block Web site access in Tunisia have been circumvented by providing proxy Web sites each week. According to a Human Rights Watch, he is "the first Tunisian arrested for exercising his freedom of expression on-line." Background The Center for Media Freedom attributes the increased suppression of the media to the recent constitutional referendum when Tunisians voted by 99.52% to accept a number of controversial constitutional amendments. Among other things, the passed amendments will allow President Ben Ali, who came to power in 1987 by military coup, to run for a fourth term in office and be immune from prosecution. Despite his public encouragement of press freedoms and a number of press code reforms, Ben Ali has privately worked to stifle opposing voices. Amnesty International reported that the majority of an estimated 1,000 political prisoners in Tunisia are prisoners of conscience. Many of them have been imprisoned for speaking out against President Ben Ali's bid for a fourth presidential term in 2004. The Center for Media Freedom reported that opposition and human rights groups believe that the government has purposely obstructed public debate regarding the constitutional amendments by banning independent news sources. They assert that the lack of adequate media coverage of Parliamentary debates and opposition views has interfered with Tunisians' ability to make informed decisions when voting on the referendum. A climate of fear In the months leading up to and following the referendum, Reporters Without Borders has documented the arrest and physical attack of three journalists as well as the seizing and suspension of four different publications. In addition, the government has been accused of suppressing on-line sites, such as Mr. Yahyaoui's, blocking email and Internet Web site access, cutting phone lines and tampering with mail. International organizations are also not excluded from censorship. The World Organization Against Torture (OCMT) reported that all communications with its correspondents in Tunisia had been severed and their Web site had been blocked. Ironically, the second phase of the World Summit on Information Society in 2005 will be hosted by the Tunisian government in Tunis, the country's capital. Copyright (c) 2002 Digital Freedom Network (http://dfn.org). All rights reserved. This article may be reproduced or redistributed for online not-for-profit use without prior written consent as long as DFN is recognized with this credit. For information about DFN's permissions policy, see <http://dfn.org/about/permissions.htm>. ========== HURIDOCS-Tech listserv ========== Send mail intended for the list to <huridocs-tech@hrea.org>. Archives of the list can be found at: http://www.hrea.org/lists/huridocs-tech/markup/maillist.php To subscribe to the list, send a message to <majordomo@hrea.org>, with the following text in the message: subscribe huridocs-tech To unsubscribe from the list, send a message to <majordomo@hrea.org>, with the following text in the message: unsubscribe huridocs-tech If you have problems (un)subscribing, contact <owner-huridocs-tech@hrea.org>.
[Reply to this message] [Start a new topic] [Date Index] [Thread Index] [Author Index] [Subject Index] [List Home Page] [HREA Home Page]