(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Minister of Communications Afif Hendaoui, RSF expressed its concern about the most recent delay in the distribution of the French weekly “Jeune Afrique – L’Intelligent” in Tunisia. RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard noted that “the delay is clearly a form of censorship utilised by the Tunisian authorities who, once again, […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Minister of Communications Afif Hendaoui, RSF expressed its concern about the most recent delay in the distribution of the French weekly “Jeune Afrique – L’Intelligent” in Tunisia. RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard noted that “the delay is clearly a form of censorship utilised by the Tunisian authorities who, once again, attack foreign publications that criticise the regime.” RSF recalled that since April 2000, several issues of “Jeune Afrique – L’Intelligent” have been distributed almost a full week late.
According to information collected by RSF, the most recent issue of the weekly “Jeune Afrique – L’Intelligent” has been blocked at the Tunis airport since 23 October. The authorities have not offered any explanation for the delay. The double issue (no. 2076-2077) included a long article about historian, specialist on Islam and human rights defender Mohamed Talbi titled “The Tunisian Sakharov”. Since April, the newspaper’s readers have noted several distribution delays. The newspaper’s managers were informed by its local distributor that “the newspaper’s correspondent [in Tunisia] would no longer be invited to events that other journalists are invited to attend.” The distributor added that “the administrative offices, Tunisian embassies around the world, public and semi-public companies subscribed to ‘Jeune Afrique – L’Intelligent’ will cancel their subscriptions,” and “no more Tunisian government advertising will appear in the weekly’s pages.”
