(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has called for a full investigation into the recent assault on journalist and human rights activist Sihem Bensedrine. Bensedrine was attacked on 5 January 2004 as she left her home to go to an Internet cafe. She was accosted by three men in the street. The youngest of the three, whom she […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has called for a full investigation into the recent assault on journalist and human rights activist Sihem Bensedrine. Bensedrine was attacked on 5 January 2004 as she left her home to go to an Internet cafe. She was accosted by three men in the street. The youngest of the three, whom she could not identify, tripped her and then beat and insulted her. The other two men, who intervened only after the attack, told her, “Don’t pay attention to the actions of this young delinquent.”
Suffering from bruising, Bensedrine had her injuries examined by a doctor the next day and asked her lawyer to file a complaint about the incident. On 8 January, she was summoned by the police, only to be confronted by a mentally-challenged local man whom she has known for a long time. Bensedrine’s husband said the police were trying to pin the blame for the attack on the young man. Bensedrine herself was adamant, saying, “The political police are behind this assault.”
“This kind of intimidation is unacceptable, as is the response of the Tunisian authorities, when they blandly say that no political police exist in Tunisia! This is not April Fool’s Day,” said RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard. He noted that a lawyers’ collective was currently preparing Bensedrine’s statement of evidence for the Prosecutor’s Office.
