14 Mar 12 | Digital Freedom, Middle East and North Africa
Yesterday was Tunisia’s first National Day for Internet Freedom, the day also commemorates the death of cyber dissident Zouhaier Yahyaoui, who died seven years ago at the age of 37.
Via his website TUNeZINE, Zouhair criticised the corrupt and autocratic regime of former president Zeine El Abidin Ben Ali. Despite using a pseudonym Ettounsi (The Tunisian in English) he was tracked down and arrested on 4 June 2000 and a court in Tunis later sentenced him to two years in prison for “publishing false information”, “non-authorised use of an Internet connection” and “theft from an employer.”
In November 2003, as a result of international pressure, authorities granted him conditional release but Yahyaoui had already spent 18 months behind bars. He faced serious health issues after suffering torture and abuse during his imprisonment and on 13 March 2005 he passed away following a heart attack.
Yahyaoui won numerous international awards for his fight for net freedom. In his memory, and in recognition of his cyber activism, and his sacrifices for a more democratic Tunisia, 13 March is now the National Day of Internet Freedom in the country.
Since the 2011 uprising, Tunisia has come far when it comes to net freedom. Netizens are enjoying an uncensored web, and they are free to say whatever they want without fearing any government censorship, or repression. Restrictions on launching websites and obtaining domain names have also been loosened. But Tunisia is still “under surveillance” on Reporters Without Borders’ “enemies of Internet List”.
Indeed, a military order issued in May, 2011 demanding the filtering of Facebook pages criticising the army (the pages are no longer censored now for technical constraints), and the legal action taken to force the Tunisian Internet Agency (ATI) to filter pornographic content on the web have launched a heated debate about whether red lines should be drawn for net freedom. Earlier this year Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki said:
There should be red lines limiting freedom of speech…these red lines should not be used as pretexts for censorship…the lines should be debated and accepted by all
In an interview given to Index on Censorship, Moez Chakchouk, CEO of the Tunisian Internet Agency admitted that there have been demands to filter around 50 FaceBook pages for “defamation”, and for “spreading false information”.
While Tunisia celebrates its first national day for net freedom, the fight for an uncensored web seems far from over.
23 Feb 12 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost
A Tunisian court today released Nasreddine Ben Saida, general director of the Arabic-language daily Attounissia, who was arrested on 15 February after his newspaper published a photo German-Tunisian footballer Sami Khedira with his naked girlfriend. Rim Boukriba, a journalist for Attounisia, expressed her discontent about the arrest. “He was treated like a criminal … did he kill someone? Is he too dangerous to stay at large?” she said. “The authorities who jailed Ben Saida are seeking to silence us … their problem is not with the picture itself … but with the newspaper, which is popular, and widely read”, she told Index. “The picture is only an excuse,” she added. The court is expected to issue a verdict on the case on 8 March.
23 Feb 12 | Middle East and North Africa
In a period of less than three months, Zakaria Bouguira, a Tunisian blogger and medical student, has been assaulted twice by police.
The first time was on 13 November last year as he was videotaping police officers physically and verbally abusing Moroccan supporters of the football team Al-Widad Al-Baydhawi at Tunis Carthage airport. He told Index: “I saw police officers beating handcuffed people. There was yelling, and blood. It was horrifying. I took my phone to film the assaults, in order to publish it later on Facebook. Police caught me, and surrounded me. They pushed me to the floor and started kicking and beating me. Then they took me to a police station room, outside the airport, with the Moroccan supporters, where I spent about 30 minutes there. During that period, I was verbally and physically abused. Then they transferred me to another room, where I was beaten again.”
Bouguira said the assaults lasted from two to three hours. He also recalled how state media came to report on what happened that night at the airport and how its journalist sought to manipulate public opinion. “They fabricated their own story (…) A journalist of Al-Wataniya TV 1 [state owned television] asked the security forces to change the clothes, tainted with blood, of the Moroccan supporters. They changed their clothes, took them to another room, and the supporters were filmed with their faces against the wall. They embellished the story. They described the Moroccans as vandals, and represented the police officers as honourable men.”
He went on: “I remember there was a Libyan person who was arrested for possessing bullets, and he was being investigated. The same journalist videotaped the bullets, and when I came back home, and watched the TV report, they added the snapshots of the bullets to the report on the Moroccan supporters. They were seeking to manipulate public opinion.”
On 20 January Bouguira says he saw Isam Dardouri, one of his attackers, and the general secretary of the Syndicate of the Internal Security Forces, in Habib Bourguiba Aveue in downtown Tunis. He went to talk him. “It was stronger than me. It was just for me, to heal myself. I needed to say what’s in my heart. I told him that he had assaulted me and that he was an unjust man,” he said.
The second time, Bouguira was assaulted was on 1 February, when he was taking part in a protest in support of Interior Ministry histleblower Samir Feriani. Again, the blogger came face to face with Dardouri and sought to confront him. “He was looking at me, and laughing. He was provoking me. I took my phone and filmed him while saying ‘this is Isam Dardouri, who assaulted me along with the Moroccans at the airport’; he is not ashamed of himself.”
Some hours later, Bouguira was arrested and abused by police. He adds:
I was surrounded by police officers in plain clothes; they pushed me, beat me, insulted me, and handcuffed me, as if I were a criminal. In the police station, they would beat me again for about five minutes. I was detained for six hours for nothing.”
The blogger has lodged a complaint against his attackers. Meanwhile, Dardouri is planning to lodge a complaint against him.
“Now he wants to lodge a complaint against me. He is accusing me of defaming and harassing him,” says Zakaria. “He has the whole union by his side. Police in Tunisia has never been in the service of the citizen. Police are in the service of the police, even before the state. I don’t think they would abandon each other. But I’m not going to abandon my rights. I’m not going to surrender. If they want to arrest, kidnap, or kill me…let them do it. If Zac dies, there will be another 20 Zacs. These practices have to stop, and we should stand in their way.”
22 Feb 12 | Digital Freedom, Middle East and North Africa
On 22 February the Cassation Court of Tunis (Tunisia’s highest court of appeal) overturned a verdict ordering Tunisian Internet Agency (ATI) to filter pornography on the internet. The court has sent the case back to the Court of Appeal.
On May, 26, 2011, the Court of First Instance issued a ruling ordering the Tunisian Internet Agency (ATI), to filter X-rated websites. On August, 15, 2011, the ruling was affirmed by the Court of Appeal.
Tunisian free speech advocates fear that blocking access to pornography would be used as pretext to block other content, and would pave the way for a return to internet censorship.
The ATI is technically incapable of undertaking the role of internet censor. This what Moez Chakchouk, CEO of the agency said, in an interview with Index three weeks ago, he said the agency had neither the financial or legal backing to enforce web blocking.
In a press release this afternoon the agency said it will “continue working towards the development of Internet in Tunisia and to act as an IXP (Internet Exchange Point), in a transparent and neutral way towards all”.
