Upcoming elections could make or break Tunisia’s fledgling free press
Tunisia’s progression to a freer society took center stage this month, as journalists, digital rights activists, and tech companies gathered in Tunis for RightsCon and the IFJ congress. Tunisia has secured greater press freedom than many of the Arab Spring countries, but local journalists told CPJ that with elections slated for this year, challenges including…
Attacks on the Press: From Uprisings, Trends to Watch
The Middle East’s political shifts changed conditions for journalists dramatically. The emerging trends favor free expression, but are filled with ambiguity and depend on the political configurations to emerge after the revolutionary dust has settled. By Mohamed Abdel Dayem
Attacks on the Press 2010: Tunisia
Top Developments • Targeting journalists, government criminalizes contact with foreign organizations. • Private broadcast licenses are controlled by Ben Ali’s family and friends. Key Statistic 5: Years of imprisonment for violations of new law barring contact with foreign groups. Tunisia remained one of the region’s most repressive nations even as it sought to project an…
CPJ Impact
News from the Committee to Protect Journalists, January 2011 2011 begins with a bang Barely a month into the new year, multiple crises have kept CPJ on emergency call. Crackdowns in Ivory Coast and Belarus, along with oppressive legislation in Hungary, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam, leave no doubt that those seeking to silence independent media…
As Ben Ali’s regime falls, 3 Tunisian journalists freed
New York, January 14, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists is heartened by news reports that three jailed Tunisian journalists have been freed as the repressive regime of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali has fallen. CPJ calls on the new interim Tunisian government to release one other journalist believed to be still in custody.
CPJ Impact
News from the Committee to Protect Journalists, July 2010Cuba begins releasing journalists For weeks, CPJ staff had been getting hints that Cuba, under a deal brokered by the Catholic Church and Spanish government, would release imprisoned journalists and political dissidents. Some families had been told to buy suits for their jailed loved ones, a sure…
Opposition newspaper confiscated in Tunisia
New York, July 19, 2010—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the apparent censorship of Al-Mawkif, an opposition weekly belonging to the Progressive Democratic Party in Tunisia. Rachid Khechana, left, Al-Mawkif editor-in-chief, told CPJ that 10,000 copies of the newspaper’s Friday edition disappeared from newsstands, apparently confiscated by security agents.
Tunisia moving forward with restrictive bill for press
New York June 17, 2010—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the adoption by the Tunisian Chamber of Deputies on Tuesday of a bill that reinforces an existing arsenal of legislation used to silence critical journalists. President Ben Ali is expected to sign the bill after its anticipated approval by the Chamber of Councilors. The change…