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From the IFEX-TMG Report of April 2007: In past reports of the IFEX-TMG we observed blocking of websites, including news and information websites, and police surveillance of e-mails and Internet cafés. We recommended that the Tunisian government stop the practice of blocking websites and cease putting Internet cafés and Internet users under police surveillance. At the time of this latest report we have witnessed no significant change and no progress on our recommendations. We therefore maintain these recommendations and specifically, we recommend the amendment of Article 8 of the Press Code by lifting the printer’s obligation to present copies of any printed book to the local prosecutor’s office, the Ministry of the Interior and the chamber of deputies. We have discussed Internet blocking with Tunisian government representatives and with government supported civil society organisations. They confirmed to us that systematic Internet blocking takes place. However government representatives asserted that blocking of political and information sites was due to their “terrorist” or “hate speech” content. Government officials were unable to describe any judicial or regulatory process that would enable such assertions to be legitimately challenged in law. In January 2005 we identified a sample of 20 sites that we assessed to be blocked for their political and information content and which did not appear to carry any information which could be considered illegal or harmful under international law. In September 2005 we undertook further tests of the 20 sample sites. We found that 19 of the sites identified remained blocked in the tests that we conducted. In February 2007 we conducted a similar research on a sample of 21 websites. The National Council for Liberties in Tunisia (CNLT), a non-approved organisation, listed several forms of harassment, including the confiscation of e-mails. CNLT Internet access, which is usually blocked, was again available starting a few days before the TMG mission to Tunisia. The Tunisian League for Human Rights (LTDH), an approved association, reported that their Internet Access had been blocked for months since April 2006. Access has been re-established quite recently. However, attachments cannot be downloaded. (This is true for all NGOs.) In addition, the website of the Observatory for the Freedom of Press, Publishing and Creation in Tunisia (OLPEC) at http://www.observatoire-olpec.org/ remains blocked. Access to the website of the Forum démocratique pour le travail et les libertés (FDTL), a political party created in 1994 and approved in 2002, remains blocked as well. (http://www.fdtl.org/) The website of the Parti démocratique progressiste (PDP) is also blocked. List of blocked websites providing
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