2 Feb 2010 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost, Uncategorized
A Tunisian appeals court on Saturday upheld a six-month prison sentence against journalist Taoufik Ben Brik, one of President Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali’s toughest critics. The Committee to Protect Journalists denounced the decision as part of a politically motivated effort to silence Ben Brik.
In other news, Mouldi Zouabi, a reporter with Radio Kalima, was arbitrarily arrested on 28 January 2010 and detained for more than eight hours. Zouabi believes the incident was clearly aimed to prevent him from carrying out a scheduled interview with Mohamed Bouebdelli, the recently suspended former director of the Free University of Tunis who had to catch a flight that day but also “it is a clear message addressed to me with the idea of dissuading me from continuing my work with Radio Kalima,” he said.
29 Jan 2010 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost, Uncategorized
Two men accused of plotting to overthrow the regime were hanged in Tehran yesterday. Reza Ali Zamani and Arash Rahmanipour, 19, were convicted of being ‘enemies of God’.
The pair were the first to be put to death after more than 100 dissidents were put on trial following protests disputing President Ahmadinejad’s re-election. They were among 11 people sentenced to death for their alleged involvement in the post-election violence.
The executions have increased fears for bloggers Mehrdad Rahimi and Kouhyar Goudarzi, convicted of wanting to wage ‘a war against God’. The men were contributors to an opposition website.
2 Dec 2009 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost, News and features
A Tunisian court has given a journalist a three-month prison sentence for broadcasting images of another person without their consent. Zouhair Makhlouf, an online journalist and member of the opposition party was arrested in the run-up to a presidential election in October. The result comes after journalist Ben Brik, a staunch critic of President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali’s government, was handed a six-month prison term for beating up a woman on the street. His lawyers said he was the victim of a police operation to entrap him. Read more here
29 Oct 2009 | Uncategorized
Four men, believed to be plain-clothed police, seized independent journalist Slim Boukdhir near his home in Tunis yesterday evening (Wednesday 28 October), beating him, stripping him of his clothes, ID, money and phones and drawing a knife while threatening to kill him “next time”.
The kidnapping and assault occurred two hours after Boukhdhir was interviewed by the BBC, where he discussed President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali’s internationally derided election victory on Sunday and a banned book by two French journalists on Ben Ali’s wife and her rising influence in the country.
(more…)
