On 12 June, the Tunisian Ministry of Culture decided to temporarily close Palais El-Abdelia, where the controversial Pritemps des Arts fair’s closing ceremony took place last Sunday. On the night of 10 June, ultra-conservative Islamists attacked the gallery, claiming that it exhibited artworks offensive to Islam.
During a press conference, the Tunisian culture minister, Mehdi Mabrouk, said that some of the artworks exhibited at Printemps des Arts did transgress Islamic holy symbols — something the fair’s artists deny. He also said that some of these artworks are now under investigation.
“In art, there is provocation. Art sometimes provokes, and this is its role. But there is a red line which separates provocation and the assault on sacred symbols”, said the minister.
After acknowledging the provocative role of art, Mabrouk told Radio Shems FM on the morning of 14 June that six works deemed to be “provocative” had been confiscated.
“There were not art works assaulting sacred symbols, unless Salafis are considered sacred,” said Amor Ghedasmi, the secretary general for Syndicate for Plastic Artists, also speaking on Radio Shems FM. The fair did contain several works criticising Salafis, who advocate for a hardline interpretation of Islam.
He denied that the exhibition featured a work of art depicting the prophet Mohammed. Pictorial representations of prophets and god are considered forbidden in Sunni Islam.
Ghedasmi also offered his own interpretation of a controversial work of art, in which the phrase “Glorious is Allah” is spelled out in ants. “The work illustrates a boy bearing a back bag. It symbolises the heavy burden of education and discipline. Ants are also known to be hard-working, and disciplined too”, he said.
“I ask the ministries of culture and religious affairs to show us the artworks [which they described as offensive to Islam] and also give us their interpretations,” he added.
The Tunisian Ministry of Culture is planning to lodge a complaint against the fair’s organisers for “assaulting the feelings of the fair’s visitors”. Palais El-Abdelia will stay closed until a committee to oversee it is formed.
Journalist and activist Ramzi Bettaieb ended a 15-day hunger strike yesterday.
Three other activists and bloggers, Azyz Amami, Houcem Hajlaoui and Emine M’tiraoui, who went on hunger strike in solidarity with Bettaieb have also ended their action.
Bettaieb, who works for the blogger’s collective Nawaat, went on hunger strike to highlight the lack of transparency in a crucial case being tried in front of a military court. On 21 May, the military authorities confiscated two of Bettaieb’s cameras as he tried to cover trials at the Military Tribunal of El Kef in the investigation of the murder of protesters during the 2011 Tunisian revolution
Tunisian journalists’ video coverage of court hearings is currently restricted to three minutes inside court rooms and Bettaieb accuses the military of deliberately preventing journalists from documenting what Nawaat has described as “the most important trials of Tunisia’s modern history”.
Bettaieb has now his cameras back, and the support of Tunisia’s constituent assembly, which pledged to look into his demands of lifting the restrictions on journalists and activists seeking to cover the court hearings in the martyrs’ case.
Bettaieb has also demanded the case be tried instead by an independent judicial structure instead of miltary judges.
“Our bodies’ powers are limited, but our determination is unlimited,” Bettaieb said at a press conference.
Nawaat journalist and activist Ramzi Bettaib (aka “Winston Smith”) has now entered his fifth day on hunger strike.
Bettaieb is protesting against confiscation of his cameras as he tried to cover trials at the Military Tribunal of El Kef in the investigation of the murder of protesters during the 2011 Tunisian revolution — often dubbed the Martyrs’ Case. An army commandant at the tribunal accused him of collaborating with “foreign forces”.
Journalists are allowed to film for only three minutes during court hearings. Bettaieb told Le Courrier de l’Atlas that he feels “frustrated and revolted” by the rule. He began his hunger strike in order to push military authorities to allow journalists and activists to cover legal proceedings in the case “without any restrictions”.
“The Tunisian people have the right to know the truth”, he added.
The Tunisian uprising claimed the lives of more than three hundred persons, most of them protesters calling for socio-economic and political reforms. The Martyrs’ case was transferred to the Military Justice, often blamed for its lack of transparency, and its slow pace of investigation. So far no high-ranking officials have been convicted in the killings.
Houcem Hajlaoui, another Nawaat journalist, and Yassine Ayari, a blogger, have both gone on hunger strike in support of Bettaieb.
“Houcem Hajlaoui and I, we are on our second day of hunger strike. We will stand by Ramzi, and we will follow whatever he does, or decides till the end” said Yassine Ayari today.
Anonymous political cartoonist _Z_ has contributed with his art to Bettaieb’s cause. He drew a cartoon where Rachid Ammar, the Chief of Staff of the Tunisian Armed Forces is depicted as a puppeteer. In one hand, he holds a judge, in the other a police officer, his eyes are fixed on Ramzi Bettaieb and his camera.
“My friends, this is another battle for a new State philosophy, a philosophy whereby censorship, lack of transparency, and repugnance for citizens and all the defects which have been poisoning Tunisia disappear once and for all and join ZABA (a nickname given to former Dictator Zeine el-Abidin Ben Ali) in Saudi Arabia. Let’s support Wisnton against Big Brother!”
On 31 May, the New Arab Debates (NAD), a political discussion forum which takes place in MENA region countries, decided to suspend all of its operations in Tunisia after security forces disrupted the programme earlier this week.
On 29 May, two police officers in plain clothes interrupted the NAD discussion on political violence in Tunisia, asking for a list containing the names of those participating in the debate. The NAD has suspended operation in retaliation to the interference, saying that the incident interfered with their “right to pursue a free speech project in a newly democratic country”.
In a statement, NAD chairman Tim Sebastian, described the police conduct as a “serious incident” and a “breach of security with the utmost concern”.
The NAD team has appealed to the Tunisian Interior Ministry, and an internal investigation is pending.
