Since traditional media are censored and tightly controlled by the government, the internet has been used as a relatively free and uncensored means of airing political and social opinions, and as an alternative field for public debates on serious political issues. This uncontrolled freedom of expression has led to the creation of an extensive censorship and filtering system.
L’ADSL en Tunisie : Akamai donne du travail à la TAP et à MM
Dans son dernier rapport concernant les connexions haut débit, Akamai place la Tunisie dans une position très flatteuse. Et voici ce que probablement la TAP et MM escamoteront du rapport : « It is not clear what drove the double digit increases in broadband percentages during the second quarter — it could be related […]
Tunisian president calls criticism “unbecoming”
During his address to the nation on the anniversary of Tunisia’s independence on March 20, President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali did not hesitate to reject critical journalism and the right of journalists to cover corruption or mistakes by the government. As customary, local groups concerned with press freedom, including the Tunisian Observatory for Press Freedom and the Tunisian Journalists’ Syndicate, hesitated
Israeli Army T-Shirts Mock Gaza Killings
The Israeli army is at the centre of a second controversy over the moral conduct of its soldiers in as many days. The revelations centre on t-shirt designs made for soldiers that make light of shooting pregnant Palestinian mothers and children and include images of dead babies and destroyed mosques. […]
CPJ presses Tunisia on poor press freedom record
The Committee to Protect Journalists urges you on the eve of the 53rd anniversary of Tunisia’s independence from France to end an ongoing cycle of repression of critical journalists and media outlets. We ask that you abide by the commitment you have made repeatedly since coming to power in 1987 to promote freedom of expression. The last time […]
Iran : Omid Reza Misayafi Has Died in Prison
Our friend Hamid Tehrani has told us that Omid Reza Misayafi has died in prison in Iran. Omid was sentenced […]
US Torture: Voices from the Black Sites
1- We think time and elections will cleanse our fallen world but they will not. Since November, George W. Bush […]
Freedom on the global Internet still a pipe dream
So begins the annual “Internet Enemies” report by Reporters Without Borders–and that’s probably the cheeriest line in the entire 39-page […]
Tunisia’s bloggers defy state censors
Foreign tourists know Tunisia for its sunny beaches, ancient ruins and one of the Arab world’s most liberal societies. But for Tunisians, life is a daily tiptoe through a minefield of political taboos enforced by a vast security apparatus and heavily censored media. Now the country’s drive to embrace the internet is giving Tunisians an unexected new outlet to challenge authority.
Tunisia’s job crisis sparks dissent
Once a fortnight, Leila Khaled, a Tunisian housewife, comes down from Tunis, the capital, to the dusty mining region of Gafsa, to visit her son Muthafer Labidi in jail. The rest of the time, she holds vigil at a Tunis hospital where her husband, Bechir Labidi, a trade union leader, lies ailing and handcuffed in his bed.
Tunisian media is becoming more “Islamized”
In a recent report that surveyed radio listeners in Tunisia, the Sigma Consulting Center found that “Zaytouna” – a private religious radio station – topped the list with 12.1 percent audience share throughout the country. Private variety radio station Mosaic came close with 11.3 percent, followed by government-backed radio station […]
Lutfi Hajji: Tunis does not tolerate independent media
In the past few weeks, Tunisian authorities have tightened their grip on independent media. Among the government actions have been […]
Interview with Maya Jribi, Leader of the Progressive Democratic Party of Tunisia: “Our Youth Have Neither Hope Nor Future”
“In Tunisia, the youth have lost hope and prospects. The movement of Gafsa is a matter of the whole society.” […]
Tunisia: Appeal Court entrenches injustice by upholding unfair convictions
Amnesty International calls for the immediate and unconditional release of trade union leaders and all those imprisoned for peacefully exercising […]
North Africa: are political websites more likely to get hacked?
Political opposition websites in North African countries, particularly in Tunisia, Libya and Mauritania, are becoming a primary target of hackers. This new phenomenon of defacing opposition and dissident websites emerged first in Tunisia, where at least 14 websites and blogs were targeted between 2007 and 2008, and seems to be spreading across the region as a result of the attempt to muzzle free […]
Tunisia: Video message to Barack Obama
We all remember what the French President Nicolas Sarkozy declared, in his victory speech, shortly after winning the French presidential election in 2007: “I want to issue a call to everyone in the world who believes in the values of tolerance, freedom, democracy, humanism, to all those who are persecuted by tyranny, by dictatorships […] I want to tell them that it will be France’s pride and its duty to be at their side.
Belgian court petitioned to arrest Livni upon arrival in Brussels
European attorneys have reportedly petitioned a Belgian court to arrest Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni upon her arrival in Brussels later […]
Staff Finds White House in the Technological Dark Ages
Washingtonpost.com : Two years after launching the most technologically savvy presidential campaign in history, Obama officials ran smack into the constraints of the federal bureaucracy yesterday, encountering a jumble of disconnected phone lines, old computer software, and security regulations forbidding outside e-mail accounts. What […]
