(RSF/IFEX) – RSF is protesting the travel ban imposed on journalist Sihem Bensedrine. “The journalist’s papers were in order. This is a violation of her right to travel freely. The authorities decided to do everything possible to ensure that the journalist is no longer able to express herself abroad,” said RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard. The […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF is protesting the travel ban imposed on journalist Sihem Bensedrine. “The journalist’s papers were in order. This is a violation of her right to travel freely. The authorities decided to do everything possible to ensure that the journalist is no longer able to express herself abroad,” said RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard.
The journalist and human rights activist was scheduled to travel to London, where she was to have appeared as a guest on the programme “Espace Francophone”, broadcast on the Arab television station Al Mustaquilla. RSF sponsors the programme on the first Sunday of every month. The 2 September 2001 programme focused on the Mediterranean Games and was to feature representatives from Tunisian opposition movements and the Tunisian government.
When Bensedrine arrived at the Tunis airport, a border police officer told her that she was unauthorised to leave the country. The journalist was imprisoned from 26 June to 11 August, for having discussed corruption in Tunisia on the programme “Le Grand Maghreb”, which is also broadcast on Al Mustaquilla. Though she was provisionally released, she is still being prosecuted. The examining judge had earlier assured the journalist that she was not subject to a travel ban. “This is an illegal decision. Only the examining judge was authorised to take such a decision,” Bensedrine told RSF.
On 1 September, French Minister of Youth and Sports Marie-George Buffet visited the journalist in Tunis. The minister was there to attend the Mediterranean Games’ opening ceremony.
