(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has called on French President Jacques Chirac to do everything possible to get his Tunisian counterpart, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, to allow a free and independent media in the country. Chirac is visiting Tunisia on 3 and 4 December 2003. “You cannot pretend any longer, for economic and security reasons, that the […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has called on French President Jacques Chirac to do everything possible to get his Tunisian counterpart, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, to allow a free and independent media in the country. Chirac is visiting Tunisia on 3 and 4 December 2003.
“You cannot pretend any longer, for economic and security reasons, that the regime is free and democratic,” said RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard in a letter to Chirac. “We ask you, as a friend of President Ben Ali, to win guarantees of press freedom, which presently does not exist, and a genuinely independent broadcast media.”
On 7 November, the 16th anniversary of his coming to power, President Ben Ali announced that broadcast media would be opened up to private ownership. He also said the first privately-owned radio station in the country, Mosaïque FM, would open immediately. He stressed that he was keen to encourage the media and “establish freedom of opinion and expression.”
However, since then, all news has remained tightly controlled by the regime, which does not allow an independent media, even though privately-owned newspapers exist.
RSF said it would watch closely to see whether the president’s promises are implemented, especially concerning the setting up of new television stations and greater Internet access, which is still tightly controlled in Tunisia.
Two journalists are currently imprisoned in Tunisia. Hamadi Jebali, publisher of the weekly “Al Fajr”, unofficial organ of the Islamist group An Nahda, has been detained since 1991. Abdallah Zouari, also of “Al Fajr”, was jailed on 8 October 2003 for a total of 13 months, after being released in June 2002, after spending 11 years in prison.
Freedom of expression is continually under attack in Tunisia. Lawyer and free expression activist Radhia Nasraoui, who has been on a hunger strike since 15 October, accuses the authorities of wanting to silence and isolate her because of her human rights work and campaign against torture. She symbolises the resistance to the regime’s gagging of free expression.
“Mr. President, you speak of the ‘excellence of Franco-Tunisian relations’ and your ‘admiration for the progress made by Tunisia in all fields,’ so how can you continue to tolerate this lack of press freedom?” Ménard asked in his letter to Chirac.
RSF is publishing an advertisement to coincide with President Chirac’s visit to Tunisia. It focuses on the Tunisian government’s grip on the media by showing an imaginary newspaper called “La Dictée” (“Written to Order”), which repeatedly contains the phrase (in Arabic) “President Ben Ali is a great president.” It asks Chirac to “mention this situation to your friend Ben Ali.”
