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Internet journalist Zouhair Yahyaoui released after 18 months in jail

(RSF/IFEX) - RSF has welcomed the conditional release of Tunisian cyber-dissident Zouhair Yahyaoui on 18 November 2003, after more than 18 months in prison. He had criticised the regime of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali on the Internet.

"His release cannot make us forget how he was ill-treated in prison, where he was sent simply for stating his opinion," said the organisation's secretary-general, Robert Ménard. "The Tunisian regime has made a gesture by releasing him, but is still very far from allowing free expression in the country, especially online. We hope journalists Hamadi Jebali and Abdallah Zouari will also be released from jail soon."

An official source said Yahyaoui, founder and editor of the news website TUNeZINE, had qualified for conditional release, having served half his sentence. He was jailed on 4 June 2002 and sentenced on 10 July 2002 to two years in prison for "spreading false news".
His French fiancé, Sophie Piekarec, told RSF that Yahyaoui had lost a great deal of weight in detention and had developed serious dental problems, but she said he retained his "iron spirit."

Yahyaoui founded TUNeZINE in July 2001 to disseminate news about pro-democracy activities in Tunisia. He posted articles and cartoons on the site mocking President Ben Ali, along with opposition statements. He was the first person to publish a letter from Judge Mokhtar Yahyaoui to the president denouncing the country's court system.

In June 2003, Yahyaoui was the first winner of the new RSF-Globenet Cyber-Freedom Prize.