In the big, wide world, there is no shortage of regimes willing to suppress the media. So it’s not hard to miss what has been happening recently in the nation of Tunisia, nestled between Algeria and Libya on the Mediterranean Sea. Imprisonment, censoring, and harassment have increased since elections there last year.
Journalists Tawfiq Ben Brik and Fahem Boukaddous are the most recent to be imprisoned, reportedly for being outspoken in their work.
According to Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Tunisia is a “textbook” example of media repression.
Following the elections there, RSF said in October, 2009:
“In the run-up to polling, the president publicly warned his detractors that the law would be “brought to bear on anyone casting accusations or doubts on the integrity of the electoral process without solid evidence”. Once the head of state was re-elected with 89.62% of the vote, the regime’s henchmen have wasted no time in putting these threats into effect.”
One journalist whose arrest and imprisonment is especially noted by more than one press freedom organization is Taoufik Ben Brik. According to the Internatioanl Federation of Journaslists (IFJ), he has been given six months imprisonment for assault in November. IFJ says, however, that he was framed for his outspoken criticism of the government.
They also note that his colleague, Zoheir Makhlouf, was jailed for four months and fined for posting a report on the Internet about environmental, economic and social problems in an industrial district.