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Welcome
to the website of the Tunisia Monitoring Group (TMG), a
coalition of 20 organisations that belong to the International Freedom of Expression eXchange (IFEX) network. The TMG monitors free expression violations
in Tunisia to focus attention on the country's need to improve its
human rights record.
Zouhayr Makhlouf denied release, Ben Brik ill in prison 20 January 2010 -
Intimidation and harassment of Tunisian journalists has escalated
in recent weeks, report OLPEC and TMG members. The TMG has called on the
European Parliament to raise free expression violations, including
the ongoing detention of journalists Zouhayr Makhlouf and Taoufik
Ben Brik, during discussions about Tunisia. 
Free Taoufik Ben Brik! 26 November 2009 - OLPEC
is requesting your help - post this
banner on your website calling for the release of jailed Tunisian
journalist Taoufik Ben Brik. He was sentenced to six months in prison on 26
November in Tunis. Ben Brik was arrested in October
following publication of critical articles on the recent
re-election of President Ben Ali. The charges involve the alleged
assault of a woman but appear to be politically motivated. TMG
members remain concerned about the health of Ben Brik who suffers
from a chronic ailment.
To learn more about the case, see recent
IFEX alerts about Ben Brik and visit
http://www.taoufik-ben-brik.net/.
Victory guaranteed; opposition clobbered and dissent crushed 28 October 2009 -Tunisian President Ben Ali was re-elected for the fifth time after crippling his opposition and quashing dissent. After reducing his opposition, silencing dissent and repressing any
independent media coverage, Tunisian President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali
was re-elected for a fifth time on 25 October, reports the Arab Network
for Human Rights (ANHRI) and other IFEX members.
CPJ Honours Naziha Rejiba with International Award 23 September 2009 - The
Committee to Protect Journalists will honor courageous journalists
from Somalia, Sri Lanka, Tunisia, and Azerbaijan with its 2009
International Press Freedom Awards at a ceremony in November.
Mustafa Haji Abdinur of Somalia, Naziha Réjiba of Tunisia, Eynulla
Fatullayev of Azerbaijan, and J.S. Tissainayagam of Sri Lanka and
have faced imprisonment, threats of violence, and censorship to
stand up for press freedom in their countries.“These are reporters
who risk their personal freedom and often their lives to ensure
that independent voices resonate within their nations and across
the globe,” said CPJ Board Chairman Paul Steiger. “Their
fearlessness to report the news in the face of great obstacles is
an inspiration to us all.”
TMG Protests as Independence of Tunisian
Journalists' Union Usurped 16 September 2009 - The TMG and other
IFEX members express their support for the democratically elected
Board of the Tunisian journalists syndicate, and vehemently
denounce the use of the police and judiciary to usurp the union.
The SNJT is fighting for its independence, having been illegally
taken over by government supporters in mid-August and evicted by
the police from the SNJT offices in Tunis and forced to cancel
their extraordinary congress due to be held on 12 September.
Instead, the democratically elected Board members of SNJT held a
press conference on 12 September, where representatives of ATFD
and other NGOs strongly condemned the blatant violations of the
law and the right to trade unionism and the political police
interference in the internal affairs of SNJT.
19 August 2009 -
The Tunisian government has "overthrown" the independent board of the
journalists' union in Tunisia, report the OLPEC, ANHRI and other IFEX
members.
On 15 August, in an extraordinary session, members of the National Syndicate of Tunisian Journalists (SNJT) imposed a new president and board on the union, composed entirely of pro-government members. According to RSF, newly-elected president Jamal Karmawi is a well-known adviser to the ruling party's general secretary. "This is a simple coup orchestrated to maximise positive media coverage for the ruling party ahead of the elections," said IFEX TMG chair Rohan Jayasekera. "It's shameful to see journalists so brazenly sell their honour for a politician's favour." 
TMG calls for end to intimidation and attacks on journalists
and rights defenders ahead of October elections
22 July 2009 - The TMG, a coalition now counting 20 member
organisations of IFEX, is deeply concerned that repeated calls on Tunisian
authorities to end the cycle of repression of human rights
defenders and journalists remain unheeded three months before
presidential and parliamentary elections in October. TMG members
have been conducting fact-finding missions and monitoring free
expression in Tunisia since 2005.
One of the latest victims of this relentless cycle of repression is Khadija Arfaoui (see photo), an academic and blogger. On 4 July, she was sentenced in absentia by a minor court in Tunis to eight months in prison after she posted a message about the kidnapping of children in Tunisia, on her private Facebook page. 
IPA AWARDS 2009 FREEDOM TO PUBLISH PRIZE TO OLPEC FOUNDERS
11 June 2009 - Three of Tunisia's most recognised - and victimised - free expression
defenders have been awarded this year's International Publishers
Association (IPA) Freedom to Publish Prize. Sihem Bensedrine, Neziha Rejiba and Mohammed Talbi, founders of the
Observatory for the Freedom of the Press, Publishing and Creation (OLPEC),
IFEX's member in Tunisia, were voted joint recipients of the 2009 prize
for "their exemplary courage in upholding freedom to publish."
TMG Protests Attack on Tunisian Journalists Union 13 May 2009 - The TMG has
written to President Ben Ali to express concern over government
efforts to undermine the independence of the Syndicat National
des Journalists Tunisiens (SNJT) and interfere in its work.
Following the publication of a SNJT report criticising the lack
of press freedom in Tunisia on 4 May, a government-backed
campaign was launched to remove the leadership of the new union
and produce a press freedom report that is more supportive of
the regime. In addition, SNJT President Neji Bghouri has been
under attack since the day he released the report – facing both
physical and verbal aggression that day, with continued verbal
assaults until now.
Kalima Radio Under Siege 4 February 2009 - Tunisian
plainclothes police surrounded and raided the offices of
newly-launched Kalima satellite radio station and detained one
of its journalists in January, the latest affront on independent
journalism in the country, say IFEX TMG and other IFEX members. The standoff at the offices, which also
house two human rights groups, IFEX member OLPEC and CNLT
intensified the following day with heavier police presence. Then
on 30 January, police, accompanied by Tunisia's deputy
prosecutor, raided Kalima's studios, seized equipment, forced
staff out and sealed the building. Since then, a number of staff
have been arrested and released. Radio Kalima was started by
the same team that runs the locally blocked online news site
Kalima. The station began satellite broadcasts in late January,
in addition to their previously web-only radio programming.
Tunisia excels in the high art of lowdown slander 14 January 2009 (Op-Ed By Rohan Jayasekera, published in the Daily Star, Lebanon) -
There's an old proverb that "a lie can get halfway round the
world before the truth has got its boots on." As free expression
campaigners we are used to governments sponsoring disinformation
and lies to discredit critics. Every country has a few state-run
or government-favored publications willing to run lies on their
behalf. What's new is the scale of these disinformation
operations, which now spread to the planting of news, adverts
and paid-for editorials in foreign papers as well as the local
press. The most brazen practitioner of this kind of propaganda
is Tunisia, which has unleashed a storm of such material at home
and abroad, in reaction to the way its record of human rights
abuse is being exposed internationally.
In December a French court found Tunisian ex-diplomat Khaled Ben Said guilty of torture and sentenced him in absentia to eight years jail. Days later a leading witness for the prosecution, journalist and free speech campaigner Sihem Bensedrine, found herself the target of a major propaganda attack..... Last week, media rights groups in France, Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom complained to the global news agency United Press International for republishing the false allegations. |
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Sihem Bensedrine, a staunch free expression advocate and
editor of Kalima, told IPI she's convinced that the launch
prompted the police assault. "This is obviously a way to silence
this radio ... They (the authorities) can control all things on
the land. They cannot control the sky, and for this reason they
are reacting like this. We will continue broadcasting on
satellite even after what happened today, and Radio Kalima will
never be silenced," Bensedrine said. |