Tunisia: Freedom of expression still under siege six months after WSIS

IFEX - News from the international freedom of expression community

PRESS RELEASE - TUNISIA

25 May 2006

Freedom of expression still under siege six months after WSIS

SOURCE: IFEX Tunisia Monitoring Group (IFEX-TMG)

(IFEX-TMG) - The following is an IFEX-TMG press release:

Freedom of Expression in Tunisia Remains under Siege, says IFEX Tunisia
Monitoring Group upon release of report

According to a report prepared by members of the International Freedom of
Expression Exchange (IFEX) Tunisia Monitoring Group (TMG), violations of
freedom of expression, freedom of the press, freedom of association and
other basic human rights are still rampant following the World Summit on the
Information Society (WSIS), held in Tunisia in November 2005.

The report, entitled "Deception and Lies: Freedom of Expression in Tunisia
Remains under Siege Six Months After the WSIS", is based on findings of the
fifth IFEX-TMG mission to Tunisia undertaken from 18 to 22 April 2006.

The mission was composed of one representative each from the Arabic Network
for Human Rights Information (HRinfo), the World Press Freedom Committee
(WPFC), and the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC).

The principle findings of the mission were:

- The continuation of the imprisonment of individuals related to expression
of their opinions or media activities.

- Blocking of websites, including news and information websites.

- Restrictions on the freedom of association, including the right of
organisations to be legally established, and to hold meetings.

- Restrictions on the freedom of movement of human rights defenders and
political dissidents together with political police surveillance,
harassment, and intimidation.

- Press self-censorship and lack of diversity of content in the media,
especially in the state-owned papers, radio and TV stations.

- Attempts to smear the reputations of activists, which are unlawful actions
that are not being investigated.

- Official harassment of attorneys and judges who press for independence of
the judiciary.

- Censorship of books through the legal submission procedure.

In light of recent escalating attacks against Tunisian activists and
independent voices, members of the IFEX-TMG are concerned that the situation
of freedom of expression and other related rights remain far below
international norms and conventions to which Tunisia is a signatory.

Members of the IFEX-TMG thus urge Tunisian authorities to immediately
release all prisoners of opinion, in particular Mohammed Abbou, and to
terminate all forms of harassment perpetrated against activists and former
prisoners of opinion. Members of the IFEX-TMG also recommend the Tunisian
government to stop censoring books and blocking websites and Internet
communications.

Members of the IFEX-TMG call upon the international community to work on
revealing violations taking place in Tunisia and to pressure the Tunisian
government to abide by its international obligations.

To download the full report, visit:

http://campaigns.ifex.org/tmg (English),

http://campaigns.ifex.org/tmg/fr_index.html (French) and

http://hrinfo.net/ifex/wsis (Arabic).

Members of the TMG are:

Arabic Human Rights Information Network (HRinfo), Egypt

ARTICLE 19, UK

Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE), Canada

Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR), Egypt

Index on Censorship, UK

International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), Belgium

International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA),

The Netherlands

International Publishers' Association (IPA), Switzerland

Journaliste en danger (JED), Democratic Republic of Congo

Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), Namibia

Norwegian PEN, Norway

World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC), Canada

World Association of Newspapers (WAN), France

World Press Freedom Committee (WPFC), USA

Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN (WiPC), UK

For further information, contact Francesco Diasio, AMARC, Italy, tel: +39 06
8632 8312, e-mail: [email protected], Mark Bench, United States of
America, e-mail: [email protected] or Sally Sami, Programme Coordinator,
Arabic Human Rights Information Network (HRinfo), Egypt; tel/fax: +202 524
9544, e-mail: [email protected]

The information contained in this press release is the sole responsibility
of IFEX-TMG. In citing this material for broadcast or publication, please
credit IFEX-TMG.

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