**Updates IFEX alerts of 12, 9 and 1 May, 27, 24, 14, 12, 11, 10, 6 and 4 April 2000** (RSF/IFEX) – The following is an RSF press release: 6 September Press release : for immediate release Tunisia Taoufik Ben Brik will return to his country on 7 September The journalist Taoufik Ben Brik will […]
**Updates IFEX alerts of 12, 9 and 1 May, 27, 24, 14, 12, 11, 10, 6 and 4 April 2000**
(RSF/IFEX) – The following is an RSF press release:
6 September
Press release : for immediate release
Tunisia
Taoufik Ben Brik will return to his country on 7 September
The journalist Taoufik Ben Brik will take an Air France flight on Thursday 7 September at 12.30 a.m. to Tunis. He will be accompanied by Robert Ménard, the Reporters Sans Frontières general secretary, Antoine Bernard, the International Federation of Human Rights leagues executive director, and by several members of the European parliament (Daniel Cohn-Bendit, Harlem Désir, Hélène Flautre, etc.).
Taoufik Ben Brik was on a hunger strike from 3 April to 15 May 2000 which allowed him to get back his passport confiscated in April 1999. This hunger strike was an opportunity to denounce violations of press freedom in President Zine Ben Ali’s country.
In order to mark his return, Taoufik Ben Brik and most of the leaders of the Tunisian opposition and local organisations for the defence of human rights will meet from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the offices of the publishing company Aloès, where Taoufik Ben Brik began his hunger strike before being driven out on 11 April 2000. The offices of Aloès were subsequently closed for three months. The European representatives and Reporters Sans Frontières will attend the meeting.
For Reporters Sans Frontières, this homecoming will be a test for the Tunisian authorities. After a few quiet weeks, in the days following the end of Taoufik Ben Brik’s hunger strike, the authorities resumed harassment of opponents and defenders of human rights. Phone lines cut, shadowing and travel bans are the daily lot again. Several trials are in progress against symbols of civil society like the democratic opposition leader Mustapha Ben Jaffar, the islamist Nedjib Hosni or a leader of the Tunisian communist labour party (POCT), Mohamed Hedi Sassi. The dismissal of Moncef Marzouki, spokesman for the National Council for Freedom in Tunisia (CNLT), bears witness to this reinforcement of repression.
Censorship is a basic element in the police state set up by President Ben Ali. The press – both private and official – is characterised by its uniform tone. All information likely to be used to criticise the government is censored. Before publication, politically sensitive articles are sent to the interior ministry. All dailies, without exception, publish the president’s picture on their front pages every single day. The authorities have transformed a system of registration which originally was simply a formality for archiving purposes, into an instrument of censorship. Every edition of a newspaper has to be submitted to the interior ministry for registration before publication. Television and radio are totally controlled by the authorities. Concerning the Internet, the only two providers are owned by members of President Ben Ali’s family.
Two Islamist journalists have been jailed since 1992. Hamadi Jebali, managing editor of the weekly “Al Fajr”, the unofficial organ of the Islamist movement Ennahda, was sentenced by a court martial in Tunis to 16 years’ imprisonment for “aggression with the intention to change the nature of the state” and “membership in an illegal organisation”. Abdellah Zouari, also with “Al Fajr”, was sentenced to 11 years’ imprisonment for “membership in an illegal organisation”. Since their sentence Hamadi Jebali and Abdellah Zouari have been held in harsh conditions: over-crowded cells, problems obtaining medicines, limited family visits and pressure on their lawyers.
For further information, contact Virginie Locussol at RSF, rue Geoffroy Marie, Paris 75009, France, tel: +33 1 44 83 84 71, fax: +33 1 45 23 11 51, e-mail: moyen-orient@rsf.fr, Internet: http://www.rsf.fr
