From: "Bruce Girard" <bgirard@comunica.org>
To: crisinfo@comunica.org
Date: Sat, 20 Nov 2004 21:47:54 -0200
Cc:
Subject: [CRIS Info] IPS - Tunisian media counter conference to WSIS
Tunisian Journalist Fights for Openness
Stephen Leahy
BROOKLIN, Canada, Nov 19 (IPS) - The Tunisian recipient of a Canadian
award recognising her fight for media freedom in her homeland says she
will organise a counter conference to a planned United Nations meeting on
the "information society" in Tunis in 2005.
Sihem Bensedrine was one of three winners of the 2004 International Press
Freedom Award to be honoured by the group Canadian Journalists for Freedom
of Expression in Toronto this week. The annual prize recognises courageous
journalists who face personal risks in pursuit of the news.
Also saluted were Guy-André Kieffer, a Canadian freelance journalist who
disappeared in Côte d'Ivoire in April, and Zimbabwean newspaper 'The Daily
News', forced to close down in February 2004 for its "uncompromising
opposition to government repression."
Last October, Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was elected to a
fourth, five-year term, reportedly by 99 percent of voters. His government
will host the U.N. World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in 2005,
phase two of a meeting whose themes include freedom of speech and how
information and communications technologies (ICT) can help promote democracy.
"There are no independent media in Tunisia," Bensedrine told IPS. "Hosting
the WSIS is paradoxical."
Although blocked by her government from participating in the summit,
Bensedrine plans to organise a "Contra-Conference Against the Summit,"
including national and international human rights organisations.
The move is just one example of Bensedrine's commitment and passion for
truth and freedom despite having been arrested and tortured by Tunisian
police. After speaking out about these issues to parliamentarians in
Germany last December, she was beaten by unknown assailants shortly after
returning to Tunisia.
Bensedrine has faced continual harassment for many years working as a
reporter and editor-in-chief at five newspapers, several of which were
banned by the government, including 'Kalima!' and 'Blanc sur Noir'.
She still attempts to publish 'Kalima!' as an online publication but
cannot update it from within Tunisia because Internet access to the
website is blocked.
The northern African nation has a reasonably good Internet infrastructure,
including 300 government-operated cyber cafés and all secondary schools
and universities are reportedly "wired."
Yet Internet access is strictly controlled by the government using
software programmes and hundreds of technical experts who prevent
Tunisians from accessing selected websites, such as Amnesty International,
Human Rights Watch and others that deal with human rights and freedom of
expression, said Bensedrine.
In 2003 eight Internet users, seven of them aged between 17 and 22, were
accused of promoting terrorist attacks on the sole basis of files they
downloaded from the Internet. In July 2004 they were sentenced to 13 years
in prison.
But those convictions rested entirely on signed confessions extracted
under torture, according to France-based Reporters Without Borders (RWB).
Bensedrine has organised international campaigns to alert the world to the
convictions and to push countries to pressure the government to overturn
the verdicts.
Tunisia has one of the most oppressive censorship regimes in the world,
according to the International Press Institute (IPI), a global network of
journalists and editors based in Vienna. For that reason the IPI and other
press freedom organisations want the WSIS to abandon Tunisia as the site
of its 2005 gathering.
Recent events could support that argument.
Any and all mention of Tunisia's ability and suitability as a place to
discuss freedom of expression were shouted down at a major WSIS
preparatory meeting involving civil society groups in Hamment, Tunisia in
June, said Mark Bench of the World Press Freedom Committee, a U.S.-based
coalition of 45 countries.
"There were enormous interruptions, with microphones being grabbed away
from people during meetings," Bench said in an interview.
About 200 civil society and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) were
involved in the meeting but at least 87 were Tunisian he said. The latter
were responsible for the disruptions.
Other complaints included lack of meeting and office space for
international NGOs, and abruptly cancelled meetings.
"If this is any indication of what will transpire in 2005, we're deeply
concerned," added Bench.
Committee members have visited Tunisian ambassadors in several countries
to deliver the message that similar treatment next year will do the
country's reputation little good.
"We hope there will be a change of heart. And that there will be greater
press freedom," Bench said.
According to Bensedrine, only four or five NGOs in Tunisia are
independent; the others are affiliated with the government. However, all
groups have to obtain permission to operate legally.
The journalist is hoping that when she returns home in December with a
number of international organisations at her side, the NGO she works with,
the National Committee for Rights in Tunisia, will get that approval.
Tunisia, she pointed out, likes to portray itself a model of development
and stability and is very sensitive to criticism from the international
community.
Support from that community is also crucial for the survival of
independent Tunisian human rights and press freedom organisations, said
Bensedrine. "It's our only weapon against this dictatorship." (END/2004)
--
Bruce Girard - <http://comunica.org/>www.comunica.org - +(598) 2 410.2979
Dr. Pablo de María 1036, Montevideo, Uruguay
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