- Censorship in Tunisia
Censorship in Tunisia has been an issue since the country gained independence in 1956. Though considered relatively mild under President
Habib Bourguiba (1957-1987), censorship and other forms of repression have become common under his successor, PresidentZine El Abidine Ben Ali (1987-). The latter has been listed since 1998 as one of the "10 Worst Enemies of the Press" by theCommittee to Protect Journalists .Reporters Without Borders has also named Ben Ali as a leading "Predator of Press Freedom".Pre-Bourguiba
Bourguiba era
Ben Ali era: Legal provisions
Article 8 of the Tunisian [http://www.oefre.unibe.ch/law/icl/ts00000_.html#A008_ Constitution] states "the liberties of opinion, expression, the press, publication, assembly, and association are guaranteed and exercised within the conditions defined by the law." Article 1 of the Press Code provides for "freedom of the press, publishing, printing, distributing and sale of books and publications."
The main reference for the information in this section is the " [http://www.ifla.org/faife/faife/tunis-report2005.htm IFLA/FAIFE Report on IFEX-TMG Mission to Tunis] ".
Books
The Press Code requires a receipt from the Ministry of the Interior before distributing books in the country.
Islam and human rights are two frequent points of contention. Frequently banned authors includeMohamed Talbi ,Hamma Hammami ,Sihem Bensedrine ,Moncef Marzouki , andTaoufik Ben Brik . TheLeague of Free Writers believes that 40 books were censored in the decade 1995-2005.Tunisia has 380 public libraries, which include a regional branch for each of the 23 regions and a National Library in Tunis. It is estimated that 200-300 new titles for adults are published each year. The National Library has depository rights to four copies of each work published in the country.
Newspapers
All major newspapers essentially follow the government line and tend to report uncritically on the activities of the President. Certain editions of foreign — principally French — newspapers that criticise the human rights situation or alleged electoral fraud, such as "
Le Monde ", "Libération ", "La Croix ", "Le Figaro " are often banned or censored, when they publish articles unfriendly to the Tunisian regime. "Charlie Hebdo " and "Le Canard enchaîné ", both satirical newspapers, are banned on a permanent basis. In order to avoid accusations of censorship, Ben Ali's regime authorized only a very limited number of editions of foreign newspapers [http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=21114 Des médias français censurés pour avoir publié des tribunes du journaliste Taoufik Ben Brik] ,RSF , 27 February 2007 fr icon ] .Some banned editions are available "behind the counter" at libraries and must be requested. Twelve editions of "Le Monde" have been censored since 2006 according to RSF. "Libération" was censored in February 2007 following the publication of an article by
Taoufik Ben Brik ; it was the first time since 1992 that Tunis had censored it .Television
The state exercises a monopoly on domestic television transmissions, although satellite dishes are popular and offer access to foreign broadcasts.
Radio
There is a small number of private radio stations, but they do not independently report news. A permit is required to establish a radio station. Electoral endorsements of candidates are not permitted in the private media.
Internet
Tunisia is thought by many organizations to have one of the strictest Internet censoring procedures in the world. Technically, it is a transparent proxy that processes every
HTTP request sent out and filters out sites based on hostnames. Empirical evidence shows thatNetApp hardware was used to implement the controls (and NetCache). [cite web | url = http://anarcat.koumbit.org/node/52 | title = Comment la Tunisie censure l'internet| last = Beaupré | first = Antoine |date= 2005-11-23]From the 23rd to the 27th of November ,
Wikipedia and allWikimedia Foundation servers were not accessible from Tunisia. It is not known if this was censorship, a technical problem, or something else entirely.pecific cases
Hamadi Jebali
Hamadi Jebali is a journalist and former editor of Al-Fajr, the publication of the banned Islamist partyAn-Nahda . He was sentenced to one year in prison in January 1991 after his newspaper called for reform of the military justice system. In August 1992 he was given a much harsher 16-year sentence by a military court for insurrection and membership in an illegal organisation. He was tried with 279 other suspected An-Nahda members or sympathisers. The trials were heavily criticised by foreign human rights monitoring groups. Hamadi Jebali remains in prison as of December 2005.1 Jebali is considered aprisoner of conscience byAmnesty International .Taoufik Ben Brik
Taoufik Ben Brik , who followed in 2000 a 42 dayshunger strike in protest against Ben Ali's regime [ [http://www.rsf.org/rsf/html/mo/rapport/taoufik/taoufik.html L'Affaire Taoufik Ben Brik en 13 dates] ,RSF , fr icon ] , published in February 2007 articles criticizing Ben Ali in the French press. Tunis responded by censoring the 23 February 2007 edition of "Le Monde", which published an article from Ben Brik titled "Qui écrit encore à Tunis?" (Who Still Writes in Tunis? [Taoufik Ben Brik , "Le Monde des livres", 23 February 2007, [http://www.lemonde.fr/cgi-bin/ACHATS/acheter.cgi?offre=ARCHIVES&type_item=ART_ARCH_30J&objet_id=978077 Qui écrit encore à Tunis ?] fr icon ] ) and two editions of "Le Nouvel Observateur" (8 and 21 February 2007). The 8 February 2007 article criticized the display of wealth in Tunisia, which contrasted with the real misery of its inhabitants [ Taoufik Ben Brik, "Le Nouvel Observateur ", 8 February 2007, [http://tempsreel.nouvelobs.com/actualites/opinions/tribunes/20070208.OBS1444/tunis_carbure_a_loptipessimisme.html Tunis carbure à l'optipessimisme] fr icon Conclusion: "Si à Tunis les gens ont le ventre plein, ils crèvent de faim." (If in Tunis people have a full stomach, they are dying of hunger.) ] The 20 February 2007 article used boxing metaphors to talk about his life during the past three years [ Taoufik Ben Brik, "Le Nouvel Observateur", 20 February 2007, " [http://tempsreel.nouvelobs.com/actualites/opinions/tribunes/20070220.OBS3357/rendezvous_a_kinshassa_a_4h00le_matin_au_huitieme_round.html Rendez-vous à Kinshassa, à 4h00, le matin, au huitième round] fr icon ]
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