(RSF/IFEX) – According to RSF’s information, journalist Taoufik Ben Brick, a correspondent with the French press agency “SYFIA” in Tunis, was once again the victim of intimidation tactics and telephone threats. While on his way home on Thursday, 28 January 1999 at around 5:00 p.m. (local time), he found a van parked in front of […]
(RSF/IFEX) – According to RSF’s information, journalist Taoufik Ben Brick, a
correspondent with the French press agency “SYFIA” in Tunis, was once again
the victim of intimidation tactics and telephone threats. While on his way
home on Thursday, 28 January 1999 at around 5:00 p.m. (local time), he found
a van parked in front of his garage. He subsequently parked in the street
facing his residence. At 8:30 p.m., five men in a white car (with curtains)
came and vandalised his car, tearing off the steering wheel and smashing the
windows. They also took a child’s car seat in an effort to pass this off as
a robbery attempt. The incident unfolded in front of young people in the
neighbourhood.
**Updates IFEX alerts of 13 January 1999 and 24 June 1998**
For Ben Brick, this new act of intimidation by the secret police, committed
in a busy Tunis neighbourhood at a time of the day when the streets are full
of people, is a “public punishment” – a message addressed to those who would
be inclined to resist, like him. At 1:00 a.m., Ben Brick was insulted by a
telephone caller and threatened: “You haven’t seen anything yet!” Ben Brick
had recently written an article for the “SYFIA” agency concerning bread
subsidies, a strategic commodity in Tunisia.
