(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Minister of Justice Bechir Takkari, RSF expressed its deep concern on the eve of the opening of legal proceedings against Saïda Ben Brik and Khemaies Mejri, sister and brother-in-law of Taoufik Ben Brik, respectively. RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard asked the minister to “consult with the relevant authorities to ensure […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Minister of Justice Bechir Takkari, RSF expressed its deep concern on the eve of the opening of legal proceedings against Saïda Ben Brik and Khemaies Mejri, sister and brother-in-law of Taoufik Ben Brik, respectively. RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard asked the minister to “consult with the relevant authorities to ensure that the charges are dropped.” Ménard added: “Once again, the Tunisian authorities do not hesitate to attack Taoufik Ben Brik’s relatives, to punish him for his statements and writings. These are cowardly practices.” RSF recalled that the Tunisian journalist went on a forty-two day hunger strike during April and May 2000, in order to protest the confiscation of his passport and acts of intimidation against members of his family (see IFEX alerts of 1 May, 27, 25, 24, 14, 12, 11, 10, 6 and 4 April 2000).
According to information collected by RSF, on 20 June 2001, the Tunis High Court summoned Saïda Ben Brik, Taoufik Ben Brik’s sister. She is charged with “mutual violence and participating in an altercation.” Her husband, Khemaies Mejri, was also summoned on the same charges, as well as for “undermining accepted standards of good behaviour” and “disrespecting other people’s property and being insulting.” The case against them is being launched almost one month after the broadcast of the programme “Le Grand Maghreb”, on Al Mustaquilla (a London-based Arabic-language television station), during which Taoufik Ben Brik announced his candidacy for the 2004 presidential election.
On 11 October 1999, during the presidential election campaign, Mejri was assaulted in the street, for no apparent reason, by one of his neighbours, Mohammed Chalghoum, a Democratic Constitutional Union (Rassemblement Constitutionnel Démocratique, RCD, ruling party) official. The Khaznadar police station, in Tunis, had refused to register the victim’s complaint. The next day, Mejri was beaten again, this time more brutally, by the same man, who also assaulted his wife, Saïda Ben Brik, and their two daughters, Rim, aged 12, and Nour, 7. Once again, the registration of the complaint was rejected.
