June 23, 1998
Your Excellency:
The Committee to Protect
Journalists (CPJ) is writing to protest the Tunisian
authorities' harassment of Taoufik Ben Brik, a
correspondent for the Paris-based daily La Croix
-L'Evenement.
On June 18, Ben Brik was
summoned to the Ministry of Interior headquarters in
Tunis by two plain clothes police officers and brought
before Mohammad Ali Ganzoui, assistant to the Minister of
Interior, La Croix reported. During their encounter,
Ganzoui accused Ben Brik of writing "subversive"
material--a reference to a June 12 article carrying
the byline of Ben Brik and La Croix senior reporter Julia
Ficatier. The article discussed, among other things,
police harassment in Tunisia including arbitrary raids
and searches of people's homes. Ganzoui subsequently
urged Ben Brik to cease his work as a
journalist.
Over the last several years, CPJ
has documented with grave concern ongoing government
pressure against the press in Tunisia. Journalists who
have attempted to provide critical coverage of state
policy or have written about sensitive political issues
have been the targets of swift official responses,
including dismissal from their jobs, denial of
accreditation, and restrictions on foreign travel. Since
1991, four foreign correspondents have been expelled from
the country for what authorities have deemed their
critical coverage of Tunisian affairs. As a result of
these measures, the press in Tunisia remains highly
self-censored.
As a nonpartisan organization of
journalists dedicated to defending press freedom
worldwide, CPJ views Thursday's action against Taoufik
Ben Brik as a clear attempt at intimidation with the
intent of discouraging investigative reporting. Such
measures represent flagrant violations of the right to
"seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through
any media and regardless of frontiers," as guaranteed by
Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights.
CPJ respectfully urges Your
Excellency to ensure that Tunisian authorities end their
harassment of Taoufik Ben Brik and that he be allowed to
carry out his professional duties without interference.
Furthermore, we reiterate our request that Your
Excellency adopt the following recommendations aimed at
bringing Tunisia's practices in accordance with
international standards for a free press:
Acknowledge
publicly your concern about the climate of fear and self
censorship that pervades the media in Tunisia, and your
commitment to take steps to reverse this troubling
situation and foster freedom of expression, including the
freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas
of all kinds.
State publicly
that the Tunisian government accepts the principle that
it has a duty under internationally recognized norms of
free expression to ensure media pluralism, including the
dissemination of a diversity of views, even if these
views are opposed to or critical of prevailing state
policies.
Encourage
journalists in the government and private press to carry
out independent reporting, with an explicit guarantee
that authorities will not penalize them, directly or
indirectly, for such professional activities.
Thank you for your attention to
these important matters. We look forward to a reply at
your earliest convenience.
Sincerely,
William A. Orme, Jr.
Executive Director