On Wednesday, January 3, police raided and searched the home of Sassi, a reporter at Qatari broadcaster Al-Jazeera, in the capital Tunis and arrested him, according to news reports and the outlet’s Tunisia bureau chief, Lotfi Hajji, who added that the police confiscated Sassi’s laptop, his phone, several books, and the phones of his wife and children.
As of Thursday evening, authorities had not filed any charges or disclosed the reason for Sassi’s arrest, according to those sources. He is detained at a police station in Cité Ettadhamen, a municipality near Tunis, pending investigation.
“By arresting two journalists in one week, President Kais Saied is making it clear that his government has zero tolerance for press freedom and independent journalism,” said CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator Sherif Mansour in Washington, D.C. “Tunisian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release Al-Jazeera journalist Samir Sassi and IFM journalist Zied el-Heni, and cease harassing journalists for their work.”
On December 28, police arrested el-Heni, a prominent columnist and political commentator for the daily “Émission Impossible” show on the independent radio station IFM, in Tunis. On January 1, a court charged him with “insulting others on social media” and transferred him to prison. El-Heni faces up to 10 years in prison if found guilty.
CPJ’s email to the Tunisian Ministry of Interior did not receive a response.
]]>On December 28, police arrested el-Heni, a prominent columnist and political commentator for the daily “Émission Impossible” show on the independent radio station IFM, after he responded to a summons for questioning, according to news reports and a journalist familiar with the case who spoke with CPJ on condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisal.
On Monday, the Tunisian Court of First Instance charged el-Heni with “insulting others on social media,” and ordered that he be detained in Mornaguia prison, 20 km (12 miles) west of the capital, Tunis, pending trial, those sources said. The charges stem from the show’s December 28 episode in which el-Heni criticized the performance of the Minister of Commerce Kalthoum Ben Rejeb, they added.
“Arresting independent journalist Zied el-Heni for providing political commentary on the radio is simply cruel and shows that President Kaies Saied’s government does not respect press freedom,” said CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator Sherif Mansour in Washington, D.C. “Tunisian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release el-Heni, drop all charges against him, and allow journalists to work freely without fear of imprisonment.”
The next hearing in el-Heni’s trial is scheduled for January 10 and he could face up to 10 years in prison if found guilty, according to Tunisia’s Business News and the journalist familiar with the case.
El-Heni was previously arrested on June 20 for allegedly insulting the president on the same radio show. He was released on June 22 and that trial is ongoing, the anonymous journalist told CPJ.
CPJ emailed the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Commerce for comment on el-Heni’s case but did not receive any response.
]]>“The September 3 arrest of journalist Khalifa Guesmi is a clear attack on journalists and the freedom of the press in Tunisia,” said Sherif Mansour, CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa program coordinator, in Washington, D.C. “Tunisian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release Guesmi, drop all charges against him, and ensure that journalists can work freely without fear of imprisonment.”
Tunisian police arrested Guesmi, a correspondent at local independent radio station and news website Mosaique FM, in the southern city of Kairouan and brought him to the capital, Tunis, to serve his sentence.
Guesmi was initially arrested on March 18, 2022, and held for a week after authorities alleged that his reporting about the dismantling of a terrorist cell illegally disclosed information about government surveillance. On November 29, a court sentenced Guesmi to one year in prison. On May 16, 2023, an appeals court increased his sentence to five years.
]]>On Tuesday, June 20, plainclothes security officers arrested el-Heni, a prominent columnist and political commentator for the daily online radio show “Émission Impossible” on the independent radio station IFM, according to news reports and a local journalist familiar with the case who spoke to CPJ.
A judge ordered that el-Heni be held in custody ahead of his trial on a charge of insulting President Kais Saied. Authorities brought el-Heni to the Fifth Central Division for Combating Information and Communication Technology Crimes, and as of Wednesday evening he was held pending trial at the Bouchoucha detention center in Tunis, the local journalist told CPJ on the condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisal.
If convicted of insulting the president, el-Heni could face up to five years in prison.
“The arrest of journalist Zied el-Heni on criminal insult charges is another clear example of President Kais Saied’s intolerance of the free press in Tunisia,” said CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator Sherif Mansour. “Tunisian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release el-Heni and ensure that members of the press can discuss newsworthy topics without fear of spending years behind bars.”
Authorities did not allow el-Heni’s lawyer to attend his questioning in detention, and they denied him medication for a heart condition and high blood pressure, according to the journalist who spoke to CPJ.
The judge ordered el-Heni’s arrest in response to a broadcast on Émission Impossible in which el-Heni made mocking statements about Article 67 of the Algerian penal code, which imposes criminal penalties for committing an “evil act” against the president, according to the BBC.
Last month, Tunisian authorities increased the prison sentence for journalist Khalifa Guesmi from one to five years, on charges of disclosing national security information.
CPJ emailed the Tunisian Ministry of Interior for comment on el-Heni’s case but did not receive any response.
]]>On Tuesday, May 16, an appeals court in Tunis sentenced Guesmi, a correspondent for the local independent radio station and news website Mosaique FM, to five years in prison on charges of disclosing national security information, according to a statement by Mosaique FM, news reports, and Mosaique FM reporter Hajer Tlili, a who spoke to CPJ. A lower court had previously sentenced him to one year in prison on the same charge.
Authorities alleged that Guesmi’s March 2022 reporting about the dismantling of a terrorist cell illegally disclosed information about government surveillance. On Thursday, the same court sentenced a police officer, whose name was not disclosed, to 10 years in prison for allegedly providing information to Guesmi for that reporting.
Guesmi remains free while his appeal is pending before a court of cassation, according to those sources.
“The punitive sentencing of journalist Khalifa Guesmi to five years in prison is a clear example of how Tunisian President Kais Saied’s government is targeting members of the press over their work,” said CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator Sherif Mansour. “Tunisian authorities must unconditionally drop all charges against Guesmi and allow journalists to work without fear of imprisonment.”
Guesmi was first arrested over his reporting on March 18, 2022, when authorities held him for one week and questioned him about his sources. A court of first instance sentenced him to one year in prison on November 29, 2022; his appeal resulted in Tuesday’s extended sentence.
CPJ emailed the Tunisian Ministry of Interior for comment on Guesmi’s case, but did not receive any response.
]]>“Barring journalists from covering the opening session of Tunisia’s new parliament is President Kais Saied’s latest attempt to censor the news and crack down on press freedom,” said CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator Sherif Mansour. “Tunisian authorities must allow all members of the press to cover historic events without harassment or favoritism.”
On Monday, March 13, lawmakers announced that only state media outlets would be able to cover the session, the first since parliament’s dissolution in July 2021, to avoid “disorder” and stop the spread of an “inappropriate image” of the parliament, according to those reports.
CPJ emailed the parliament for comment but did not receive any response.
]]>“Tunisian authorities must stop their judicial harassment of journalist Mohamed Mehdi Jlassi and withdraw the unsubstantiated police complaint against him,” said Sherif Mansour, CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa program coordinator. “Prosecuting journalists on charges unrelated to journalism is clear intimidation.”
Jlassi told Reuters that there had been no attack or clash with the police during the protest and that he believed the police action was an attempt to intimidate his organization and silence criticism of Tunisia’s president.
In September 2022, Jlassi spoke with CPJ about the deterioration of press freedom in Tunisia after President Kais Saied dismissed the prime minister and froze parliament on July 25, 2021. CPJ’s email to the Tunisian Ministry of Interior did not receive a response.
]]>On Monday, February 13, police raided and searched the home of Boutar, the director of the local independent radio station and news website Mosaique FM, in the capital Tunis, and arrested him, according to a statement by the outlet and news reports. Authorities questioned Boutar about the outlet’s operations, including about who chooses guests and oversees the radio station’s program hosts.
As of Tuesday evening, authorities have not filed any charges or disclosed the reason for Boutar’s arrest, according to Hajer Tlili, a Mosaique FM reporter who spoke to CPJ via messaging app. He is detained at the headquarters of the Anti-Terrorist National Brigade in el-Gorjani district in Tunis.
“The recent arrest of journalist Noureddine Boutar is a clear attack on the press sector in Tunisia,” said Sherif Mansour, CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa program coordinator. “Tunisian authorities should immediately release Boutar without charge and end the culture of harassment that plagues the country’s journalists and media outlets.”
Tunisian police also arrested two prominent opponents of President Kais Saied on Monday as part of a surge in arrests of government critics. Mosaique FM frequently criticizes the president during its programs, according to the outlet’s statement.
Since Saied dismissed the prime minister and froze parliament on July 25, 2021, there has been a significant increase in the number of journalists arrested on charges unrelated to the country’s media laws, according to a joint 2022 report to the United Nations by CPJ, the D.C.-based rights group Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, and the local trade union National Syndicate of Tunisian Journalists.
CPJ emailed the Tunisian Ministry of Interior for comment but did not receive any response.
]]>This U.N. mechanism is a peer-review process that surveys the human rights performance of member states, monitoring progress from previous review cycles, and presents a list of recommendations on how a country can better fulfill its human rights obligations. It also allows civil society organizations to submit their reports and recommendations
Earlier this year, CPJ submitted joint reports with D.C.-based rights group the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy (TIMEP), assessing the state of press freedom and journalist safety in Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco, ahead of the November 14 review during the Working Group’s 41st session.
In the last UPR cycle in 2017, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco accepted several recommendations concerning press freedom and freedom of expression. However, CPJ’s reporting and analysis show that all three countries have failed to implement these recommendations, and that press freedom violations have increased since then.
Tunisia
Local trade union National Syndicate of Tunisian Journalists (SNJT) joined CPJ and TIMEP’s submission on Tunisia to highlight how the state of press freedom has gravely deteriorated since 2017, especially following President Kais Saied’s July 25, 2021 dismissal of the prime minister and his freezing of parliament.
According to the joint submission, the physical and psychological safety of journalists has deteriorated significantly. Authorities and protesters physically attacked many journalists while they covered protests in order to prevent their coverage. Many local and foreign media outlets and news organizations were also subject to raids and physical attacks by security officers, who in several cases confiscated the organizations’ broadcasting equipment and ordered their offices to close. The joint submission also highlights a significant increase in journalists arrests on charges unrelated to media laws.
In the submission, CPJ, TIMEP, and the SNJT made several recommendations about press freedom to the Tunisian government, which include releasing all detained journalists and bloggers, ceasing government interference in media content, and stopping raids of media outlets.
Algeria
As CPJ’s joint submission indicates, journalists in Algeria have increasingly faced pretrial detention and judicial harassment, and many local and foreign news websites have been blocked in the country. Authorities have also revoked the press accreditations of many local and foreign journalists and news outlets.
In the submission, CPJ and TIMEP made several recommendations to the Algerian government, which include releasing all imprisoned journalists and amending the penal code to prohibit the prosecution of journalists under laws not related to journalism. CPJ and TIMEP also recommended the government to unblock all blocked news sites, end registration restrictions on media outlets, and to stop revoking the press accreditations of foreign news outlets.
Morocco
This joint submission shows how press freedom in Morocco has deteriorated significantly since the last UPR cycle in 2017. The arbitrary detentions of journalists, the expulsion of foreign journalists, and the use of censorship and surveillance tactics against journalists for their work have all increased drastically. The submission also highlights how the Moroccan government has been using trumped up sex-related charges to prosecute and imprison journalists for their work.
CPJ and TIMEP recommended that the Moroccan government release all imprisoned journalists and prevent the weaponization of women’s issues and rights to prosecute journalists for their investigative work. The recommendations also include the criminalization of surveillance and monitoring of journalists using spyware.
Here are summaries on the submissions by TIMEP on Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco. And here are links to the original submissions on Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco.
]]>Hajji began to laugh, saying the scene reminded him of a 2005 CPJ mission to Tunisia, when “plainclothes security officers were following our every move in their car.” He added: “It’s like we’re going back in time!”
CPJ could not meet with Hajji at the Al-Jazeera office because it has remained closed since police raided the bureau on July 26, 2021, confiscating all broadcasting equipment and forcing all staff to leave the building. The raid came less than 24 hours after Tunisia President Kais Saied fired Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi and suspended parliament, granting himself sole executive power. A new constitution, approved by a largely boycotted voter referendum nearly a year later, on July 25, 2022, codified Saied’s nearly unchecked power, upending the checks and balances between the president, prime minister, and parliament provided by the 2014 constitution.
Saied’s decision to shut down Al-Jazeera’s office on the heels of his power grab “symbolizes the state of press freedom under his regime,” Malek Khadhraoui, co-founder and publication director of local independent news website Inkyfada, told CPJ. Over the ensuing 14 months, at least four journalists have been arrested, and two were sentenced to several months in prison by military courts. Many others have been attacked by security forces while covering protests.
“We found that 2022 was one of the worst years in terms of press freedom violations since we began monitoring them six years ago,” Khawla Chabbeh, coordinator of the documentation and monitoring unit at the National Syndicate of Tunisian Journalists (SNJT), a local trade union, told CPJ in a meeting. On July 25, 2022, the day of the constitutional referendum, “we monitored the most violations against journalists that has occurred in a single day,” said Chabbeh.
The Tunisian Ministry of Interior did not respond to CPJ’s email request for comment about the state of press freedom in Tunisia, or about whether plainclothes security officers had followed CPJ and its local partners in 2005 or this year.
Dismantling independent constitutional commissions
Following the constitutional referendum on July 25, Tunisia approved the new constitution, replacing what was considered one of the most progressive in the Arab world. The new document is missing many of the articles that had guaranteed the protection of rights and freedoms. It eliminates several constitutional commissions created under the 2014 constitution, such as the Human Rights Commission, which investigated human rights violations, and the Independent High Commission for Audiovisual Communication, the country’s media regulatory body.
Saied’s crackdown on Tunisia’s independent constitutional bodies began even before the new constitution was formally adopted. On August 21, 2021, police shut down the headquarters of the National Anti-Corruption Authority without providing a reason. On February 6, 2022, Saied dissolved the High Judicial Council, which was mandated to ensure the independence of the judicial system and to act as a check on presidential powers, in a move United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet described as a “clear violation” of international human rights law. These changes have implications for press freedom, local journalists told CPJ.
“The 2014 constitution protected the freedom of the press, publication, and expression. However, the new constitution does not mention anything on the independence of the judicial system, which is one of the few things that could guarantee fair trials when violations against journalists or the press occur,” Mohamed Yassine Jelassi, president of the SNJT, told CPJ in a meeting. “And now, with the lack of independent constitutional bodies, we are going to start dealing again with a Ministry of Communications that takes its orders straight from authorities.”
Jelassi said Tunisia’s executive authority is now concentrated almost exclusively in the hands of the president, adding that Saied now has the power to propose and pass decrees and to appoint the members of the judiciary and the constitutional court.
“So even if the president passes a decree related to press freedom, and it gets approved by the parliament, in the past, we had the right to appeal the constitutionality of these decrees,” said Jelassi. “But now, since the president alone has the upper hand in hiring judges, this right is no longer guaranteed. Whatever freedom the new constitution provides with one hand, the law can take it away with the other.”
Jelassi told CPJ that the new constitution further diminishes the protection of journalists and the freedom of publication by using vague language that could lead to the conviction of journalists on charges unrelated to journalism. Under the 2014 constitution, authorities were prohibited from interfering with any journalistic content, since it would violate the freedom of publication. By contrast, the new constitution protects the freedom of publication only if it does not harm “national security,” “public morals,” or “public health,” which are all defined by the law.
Over the past year, authorities arrested journalists Amer Ayad, a talk show host for privately owned channel Zaytouna TV, Khalifa Guesmi, a correspondent at local independent radio station and news website Mosaique FM, Ghassen Ben Khelifa, editor-in-chief of local independent newspaper Inhiyez, and Salah Attia, founder and editor-in-chief of local independent news website Al-Ray al-Jadid, on anti-state charges. Military courts sentenced Attia to three months in prison and handed down a four-month sentence to Ayad.
“This is the first time in years that we see civilians being tried in military courts, let alone journalists,” Chabbeh said. “We consider this a clear indication to where press freedom is headed in the next few years, and it is not a positive one.”
Losing access to information
The 2014 constitution guaranteed journalists’ rights to information through the creation of the National Authority for Access of Information, an independent body responsible for providing information regarding official decisions to the media. Even though that right remains in place with the new constitution, and the National Authority for Access of Information is nominally still operating, Khadhraoui and other journalists said that in practice, government bodies are not providing journalists with the information they need to do their jobs. For example, while the National Authority for Access of Information is supposed to have an office in every ministry, its office in the Interior Ministry has shut down, several journalists told CPJ.
“Today, decrees get written, issued, and applied overnight and they [authorities] inform citizens and journalists of these new laws at the same time. This is problematic because Tunisian citizens are used to receiving transparent journalistic coverage of these topics. That was possible through the office of Access of Information in the Ministry of Interior, which is now closed,” Khadhraoui said, adding that journalists requesting information from the ministry now face bureaucratic obstacles and must sign many forms that often don’t get approved.
Obtaining press accreditations also has become increasingly difficult. Chabbeh showed CPJ its unpublished research on hundreds of local and foreign journalists who had applied for press accreditations to cover the July 25 referendum. While authorities provided them with a written document allowing them to cover the vote, most security officers at the polls did not accept the documents and prevented many journalists from reporting or taking pictures, she said.
Hajji told CPJ that he and his colleagues at Al-Jazeera had been able to renew their press accreditations without problem every year for the past 11 years, but that authorities told them in January that they couldn’t be renewed because of the office closure.
“Since this reason didn’t make sense, the syndicate got involved and helped us get our press accreditations,” said Hajji, adding that they still had to wait six months before they were able to renew special accreditations for camera crews, which used to be renewed automatically with the press credentials.
Hajji also said that while Al-Jazeera has all its paperwork, licenses, and taxes in order, the office remains closed. As of early September, police were still heavily present in front of the bureau’s building, he said.
“It is a mystery to me that they are giving us press accreditations and allowing us to work, yet they’re not allowing us into our office, and they’re not even telling us the reason for shutting it down in the first place,” Hajji said. “It’s been a year now, and we still have no idea why this happened.”
Targeting foreign funding
Khadhraoui, Hajji, and Jelassi told CPJ that local journalists and rights advocates working for independent organizations that receive foreign funding fear that their organizations could be shut down. In a speech on February 24, 2022, Saied said he planned to prohibit foreign funding to local civil society organizations in order to stop foreign intervention in the country. Saied had not issued such a decree by mid-September, but the journalists have told CPJ that they would not be surprised if it happened at any time.
“Most private [and non-profit] news organizations are partially funded by foreign groups or governments,” said Khadhraoui. “Without these funds, it will be impossible to pay staff salaries, and therefore there won’t be any independent press sector in Tunisia.”
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