(RSF/IFEX) – The following is a 19 June 2003 RSF press release: Tunisian cyber-dissident Zouhair Yahyaoui Winner of the first Cyber-Freedom Prize awarded by Reporters s@ns frontières – Globenet for 2003 Tunisian cyber-dissident Zouhair Yahyaoui, jailed for two years for allegedly “putting out false news” on his Internet website TUNeZINE.com, has won the first Cyber-Freedom […]
(RSF/IFEX) – The following is a 19 June 2003 RSF press release:
Tunisian cyber-dissident Zouhair Yahyaoui Winner of the first Cyber-Freedom Prize awarded by Reporters s@ns frontières – Globenet for 2003
Tunisian cyber-dissident Zouhair Yahyaoui, jailed for two years for allegedly “putting out false news” on his Internet website TUNeZINE.com, has won the first Cyber-Freedom Prize awarded by Reporters s@ns frontières – Globenet for 2003.
At least 51 cyber-dissidents are in prison around the world for simply wanting to exercise their right to inform us. Jailing someone is to remove a vital witness and it threatens everyone’s right to information. So Reporters Without Borders is honouring a cyber-dissident who is being prevented from informing us via the Internet.
Yahyaoui’s fiancée, Sophie Piekarec, received the 7,600 euro prize on his behalf at a ceremony in Paris today. The prize goes to an Internet user who, through their professional activity or principled positions, demonstrates their support for the free flow of information online.
Zouhair Yahyaoui in jail – How President Ben Ali responds to satire
In Borj el Amri prison, on the outskirts of Tunis, 4 June 2003 was the first anniversary of the arrest of Zouhair Yahyaoui, 35, cyber-dissident and creator of the website TUNeZINE.
It was also the day his French fiancée, Sophie Piekarec, had wanted to spend in Tunis with Yahyaoui’s family. She flew over specially from Paris, but was turned back when she landed at Tunis airport.
What crime did Yahyaoui commit to deserve this?
A young unemployed university graduate and Internet enthusiast, Yahyaoui launched a news website from within Tunisia in July 2001. It was the only way to express oneself in this country of censorship. Using the pseudonym Ettounsi, Yahyaoui quickly began drawing lots of young visitors to TUNeZINE. His recipe was humour and sarcasm. In July 2001, TUNeZINE began reflecting the concerns of human rights defenders by being the first site to post an open letter to President Ben Ali from Judge Mokhtar Yahyaoui (Zouhair Yahyaoui’s uncle) criticising the complete lack of judicial independence in Tunisia. Written mostly in the Tunisian vernacular, the postings of Yahyaoui and his team upset the authorities. Tunisia’s cyber-police, who are among the most effective in the world, were ordered to track them down.
He was arrested in an Internet cafe in a Tunis suburb on 4 June 2002 by ten plainclothes policemen, who took him to his home and searched his room, taking his computer equipment. During interrogation by members of the Directorate for State Security (DES), an offshoot of the interior ministry, he revealed the password to his website. He was also tortured. After a summary trial, an appeals court sentenced him on 10 July 2002 to two years in prison for “spreading false news.”
Yahyaoui has continued his fight from his prison cell. The only way now for him to combat the injustice of which he is a victim is hunger strikes. He has staged three of them since the beginning of 2003. They have left him weak, but he has not given up.
