In a letter to Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi, RSF protested the “23 January detention of French journalist Daniel Mermet.” RSF asked the prime minister to “intervene, and ensure that the journalist’s equipment is returned to him as soon as possible, in order to permit free dissemination of the information. This right is guaranteed by Article […]
In a letter to Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi, RSF protested the “23 January detention of French journalist Daniel Mermet.” RSF asked the prime minister to “intervene, and ensure that the journalist’s equipment is returned to him as soon as possible, in order to permit free dissemination of the information. This right is guaranteed by Article 19 of the International Covenant On Civil and Political Rights, ratified by Tunisia in 1969.”
According to information obtained by RSF, the France Inter journalist, who was on location in Tunisia, was detained at the Tunisian airport while he was returning to France. Customs officers searched him and confiscated his notebooks, notes, cassettes and, in particular, his address book, which contained the addresses of the people he spoke to in Tunisian.
RSF recalls that “even prior to the October 1999 electoral presidential campaign, the distribution of foreign press was strictly controlled. All publications that were critical of the regime were barred from distribution in Tunisia. The French dailies “Le Monde” and “Libération” and the monthly “Le Monde Diplomatique” are still not allowed to be distributed. Broadcasts via radio waves by the French television channel, France 2, have also been suspended.” (For more information about barring of French publications, see IFEX alerts of 27 October and 21 October 1999.)
