Tunisia: IFEX members call on Tunisian government to stop harassing Lotfi Hajji

IFEX - News from the international freedom of expression community
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JOINT ACTION - TUNISIA

13 May 2005

IFEX members call on Tunisian government to stop harassing Lotfi Hajji

SOURCE: Index on Censorship, London

**Updates IFEX alerts of 10 May and 28 April 2005; for further information
on the Abbou case, see alert of 4 May 2005**

(IFEX-TMG) - The following is a joint declaration by members of the
IFEX-TMG:

IFEX members call on Tunisian government to stop harassing Lotfi Hajji

Freedom of expression organisations are calling on the Tunisian authorities
to halt their harassment of Lotfi Hajji, President of the small independent
Tunisian Journalists' Syndicate (SJT). He was summonsed again to appear
before police on 9 May 2005, once more without a given reason.

In the few days before and after this month's World Press Freedom Day Hajji
was summonsed by police, detained, had his books confiscated at Tunis
airport, and was threatened with prosecution after the authorities found out
that he planned to publish the syndicate's own report on Tunisian media
repression.

"It's ironic that the Tunisian authorities are choosing to mark World Press
Freedom Day in this way," said Alexis Krikorian of the Geneva based
International Publishers Association (IPA). "But it's even more ironic that
while the authorities are harassing Lotfi, the authorities are telling us
that there is no harassment of the media in Tunisia."

He was speaking on behalf of the Tunisia Monitoring Group (TMG), 13
national, regional and international NGOs committed to the protection and
promotion of freedom of expression. (See below for full list). He and other
members of the TMG, which is associated with the International Freedom of
Expression Exchange (IFEX), were in Tunis 5-8 May to launch an Arabic
edition of the TMG report "Tunisia: Freedom of Expression Under Siege" at a
meeting to mark World Press Freedom Day.

"The Tunisian government authorities strongly repudiate the report," said
Rohan Jayasekera of Index on Censorship, another member of the TMG. "They
keep telling us that there is freedom of expression in Tunisia, when
evidence to the contrary is all around us."

The current round of harassment began on 25 April for Hajji, when he had 15
books confiscated on arrival at Tunis airport as he returned from a regional
conference on press freedom in Marrakech. The confiscated volumes included
works by Moroccan philosopher Mohamed Abed al-Jabri and Moroccan-born
Paris-based analyst Rachid Benzine. The books are freely on sale in Morocco.
All but one was later returned. The missing book was the autobiography of a
Moroccan police chief.

He was next summonsed to the main police station in the town of Bizerte on 4
May. According to a colleague police told him that his syndicate did not
have the legal status to publish a report on media rights in Tunis scheduled
for release to fellow free expression campaigners at the World Press Freedom
Day meeting in Tunis on 6 May. He was freed after four hours.

The SJT report, which was released as planned, concluded that the Tunisian
media was more muzzled today than at anytime since President Zine Abidene
Ben Ali seized power in 1987.

The founding of the SJT in May 2004 was not welcomed. A former editor at the
weekly "Réalités" and known for his independent views, Hajji was also denied
Tunisian accreditation as correspondent of the Qatar-based satellite channel
al-Jazeera in 2004. Al-Jazeera is allowed throughout the Arab world, except
in Tunisia, Iraq and Saudi Arabia. He was summoned to appear before Police
on 7 May 2005. Another examination came 2 days later.

The 9 May examination lasted nearly three hours, according to Hajji. He was
told once again that STJ was illegal. He was urged to stop issuing press
releases and reports in the name of this syndicate and was informed that he
might be summoned in the future for another examination.

Hajji was asked to hand the police the list of its 160 members, but declined
to satisfy such a request.

Hajji told the police chief that the syndicate is legal and the Law allows
Tunisians to establish syndicates without authorisation from the government.
He also deplored that the professional problems raised by the Syndicate of
Tunisian journalists in its latest report and press releases prompted police
examinations and not a constructive dialogue with the government on ways to
protect journalists and press freedom.

With Hajji again having been forced to present himself before Tunisian
police on 9 May, once more without reason given, there is concern that he
may eventually be made to face charges and tried before a judge sympathetic
to the regime. Tunis lawyers Mohammed Abbou and Faouzi Mourad were recently
jailed by courts accused of doing the bidding of the regime, following their
public criticism of the government.

The TMG urges the international community, particularly its representatives
in Tunis, to do all it can to press for fair treatment of Hajji and an end
to the harassment he faces.

IFEX-TMG Members:

ARTICLE 19, UK
Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE)
Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Studies (CEHURDES), Nepal
Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights (EOHR)
Index on Censorship, UK
International Publishers' Association (IPA), Switzerland
Journaliste en danger (JED), Democratic Republic of Congo
Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), Namibia
Norwegian PEN
Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN (WiPC), UK
World Association of Newspapers (WAN), France
World Press Freedom Committee (WPFC), USA
World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC)

For further details, contact Rohan Jayasekera at Index on Censorship in
London, tel: +44 20 7278 2313 e-mail [email protected], or Alexis
Krikorian, International Publishers' Association, tel: +41 22 346 30 18,
e-mail: [email protected].

The information contained in this joint action is the sole responsibility of
IFEX-TMG.
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