(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Interior Minister Abdallah Kallal, RSF expressed its alarm over the pressure being put on the family of Tunisian journalist Nurreddin Aouididi, who has been on hunger strike since 1 May 2000. Robert Ménard, RSF’s secretary-general, asked the minister to “put an end to the harassment of Nurreddin Auididi’s family […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Interior Minister Abdallah Kallal, RSF expressed its alarm over the pressure being put on the family of Tunisian journalist Nurreddin Aouididi, who has been on hunger strike since 1 May 2000. Robert Ménard, RSF’s secretary-general, asked the minister to “put an end to the harassment of Nurreddin Auididi’s family members in Tunisia because of the reports that he has had published in Arab newspapers”. RSF recalled that another Tunisian journalist, Taufik Ben Brick, recently conducted a forty-two day hunger strike to protest the harassment by the Tunisian authorities of which he and his family had been victims. (See IFEX alerts of 12, 9 and 1 May, 27, 24, 14, 12, 11, 10, 6, and 4 April 2000)
According to information obtained by RSF, Auididi has been living in the United Kingdom since 1994, working for Arab newspapers published in London. His family has suffered harassment from the Tunisian authorities for several years because of his reporting. Several relatives have had their passports taken away. During the summer of 1999, Auididi had interviews published with two opponents of President Ben Ali’s government, Khemais Shamari and Mustapha Ben Jaffar.
