27 February 2001
RSF DELEGATION EXPELLED, ATTACKS ON PRESS FREEDOM ESCALATE
Attacks on press freedom in Tunisia are growing increasingly serious, according to Reporters sans frontières (RSF) and the Fédération professionnelle des journalistes du Québec (FPJQ). In the most recent incident on 21 February, four RSF representatives were roughed up by Tunisian police after trying to distribute copies of the banned monthly "Kaws el Karama". Two members of the delegation, including RSF secretary general Robert Ménard, were subsequently thrown out of the country.
"Kaws el Karama" was launched on 26 January despite the authorities' refusal to grant legal authorisation. The first issue carried the headline: "Ben Ali, Thirteen Years, Enough!" RSF reports that since then, founder Jalel Zoghlami, has been attacked twice with iron bars by people believed to be members of the country's security forces. "The Tunisian authorities have clearly gone an additional step forward in their repression, having decided to attack journalists' physical integrity," says RSF. Zoghlami has been on a hunger strike since the first attack on 3 February. He is demanding that the authorities grant legal recognition to his publication, find and punish his aggressors, end all harassment against him and his family, and return his passport. Zoghlami is the brother of journalist Taoufik Ben Brick, who himself went on a long hunger strike last year to draw attention to press freedom violations in Tunisia.
RSF says that it will host "Kaws el Karama" on its website, http://www.rsf.fr, starting in March. Meanwhile, the FPJQ deplores the erosion of press freedom in Tunisia and calls the current situation "shameful for all members of the Francophone world."">http://www.rsf.fr">http://www.rsf.fr, starting in March. Meanwhile, the FPJQ deplores the erosion of press freedom in Tunisia and calls the current situation "shameful for all members of the Francophone world."
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