Themes 1002

Google Earth bombing for a free Tunisia

You’ve heard of Google bombing. Here’s an instant classic piece of Google Earth bombing, courtesy of the Tunisian opposition to a rather nasty dictatorship. The premise: That even despots like Tunisia’s Ben Ali want check out their house in Google Earth:-) His palace is now smothered with YouTube video testimonies by political prisoners (turn on the YouTube layer if it isn’t already).

Dear Mr. Z.A.B.A

I am pleased to inform you that I received your letter, the one you sent to the younger Tunisians around the world through http://www.pactejeunesse.tn, asking me and my fellow Tunisians to work together on coming up with ideas for a brighter future.
Through this letter, I will try to tackle the prime and most lucrative sector for all nations through the history of humanity: Education.

Human rights videos besiege the Tunisian Presidential palace

Tunisia blocked access to both popular video-sharing websites, Youtube and Dailymotion, in order to prevent Tunisian netizens from watching video content featuring testimonies from former political prisoners and human rights activists. However, and as shown in this example, Tunisian cyberactivists are successful enough in besieging Carthage presidential palace, on Google Earth, with tens of human rights videos.

Amman: a long term temporary stage for Iraqis

We’re not staying here” keeps on saying Razaq, a 45 years old Iraqi mechanical engineer. Razaq is as 500 000 Iraqis that left their devastated country to settle in Jordan, according to Jordanian official sources. They moved “temporarily” as they say, at least as they hope. 53 331 of them are registered at the UNHCR in Amman, the Jordanian capital. Razaq came to Amman […]

Tunisians convicted for trying to build hydrogen bomb

TUNIS, Tunisia: A court in Tunisia convicted 14 young Islamic militants Thursday of trying to build a hydrogen bomb and sentenced them to up to 14 years in prison, a lawyer said.

The suspects, who come from the North African country’s southern regions and range in age from 19 to 30, were taken into custody in November 2006 […]

Egypt: Facebooking the Struggle

After little less than a month following the April 6 strike, during which a number of prominent Egyptian bloggers and internet activists were arrested, preparations for the next round of a planned general strike to mark the 80th birthday of President Mubarak, on May 4, 2008, are currently spreading all over the blogosphere and the Internet. Blogger and activist Nora Younis shares some of her ideas with us about […]

Why Shariah?

In fact, for most of its history, Islamic law offered the most liberal and humane legal principles available anywhere in the world. Today, when we invoke the harsh punishments prescribed by Shariah for a handful of offenses, we rarely acknowledge the high standards of proof necessary for their implementation. Before an adultery conviction can typically be obtained, for example, the accused must confess four times or four adult male witnesses […]

CIA facility in Tunisia ?

From his prison cell in Bizerte (65km north of Tunis), The Tunisian prisoner Ramzi Bettibi managed to smuggle a very alarming letter that found its way on to the Internet (available in French) In his letter, Ramzi describes a secret detention facility near Bizerte city, where he has been interrogated by CIA and French-speaking agents about his alleged ties […].

The Story of Lofti Lagha, Prisoner 660

Overlooked in the reports about Guantánamo detainee Abdullah bin Omar, a Tunisian who, on Sunday, was sent back to the country of his birth, where there are fears that he will be subjected to torture and abuse, is the story of the other Tunisian who, shackled and bound, shared a US plane with him. Unlike bin Omar, who was represented by lawyers who have do […].

Internet and the Public Sphere: Tunisian Cyberactivism

The development of Internet in Tunisia comes to reconfigure the Tunisian political scene. Indeed, for a few years, one has noted in Tunisia new forms of activism, of expression of social criticism on Internet. This reappropriation of the technological developments leads to new militant practices developing independently of the traditional institutions (lef […].

Free Monem campaign

As the world celebrates World Press Freedom Day an Egyptian blogger, Abdel Monem Mahmoud, sits in jail, his only crime his desire for a more open Egyptian society. We cannot let the regime succeed in silencing him. We have to show the Egyptian regime that when you imprison a blogger, you don’t silence his voice, you AMPLIFY it! How? By taking action! Here’ […].

Unblock Dailymotion campaign

Après les sites et blogs tunisiens censurés, le régime de Ben Ali vient de s’attaquer à Dailymotion. Bloqué depuis le 1er avril 2007, ce service d’hébergement et de partage vidéo est devenu, il est vrai, l’un des espaces d’expression favoris des Tunisiens. Par son biais, ils ont pu faire partager leurs trouvailles et mettre en ligne des vidéos impossible […].

Ben Ali’s dictatorship is creating more Islamists

The deadly clashes in the suburbs of the Tunisian capital between security forces and Islamist gunmen at the end of December and in early January took by surprise those who were under the illusion that an Arab autocrat of Ben Ali’s ilk could learn anything from Ibn Khaldoun. According to official sources, the clashes left 12 gunmen dead and 15 under arrest […].