Afef Bennaceur: Appel Au Syndicat des médecins et à toutes les associations médicales FAJ Alarmed over Increasing Legal and Security Threats to Journalists in Africa Kamel Labidi: Circle of media repression widens over Tunisia’s history Liberté: Bordj Bou-Arréridj – Deux terroristes, dont un Tunisien, arrêtés Magharebia: La Banque Mondiale salue la Tunisie pour son climat d’investissement Times of Malta: January drugs find in Tunisia leads to more arrests in Malta Tekiano: L’orientation en star du web en Tunisie Le Temps: Assurance maladie… Prise en charge de l’hypertension artérielle – Pertes «sèches» pour la CNAM ! Magharebia: Tunisie : La loi sur le mariage et la propriété fait polémique Richard Hétu: L’islamophobie a-t-elle un parti?
Au Syndicat des médecins et à toutes les associations médicales
FAJ Alarmed over Increasing Legal and Security Threats to Journalists in Africa
The Federation of African Journalists (FAJ), the African regional affiliate of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), is extremely disturbed and concerned by the growing tendency towards enactment and enforcement of more repressive, complicated legal sanctions against journalists.
In Senegal, Cameroon, Tunisia and Burundi, journalists and their leaders face constant harassment and threats to their safety as part of a brazen campaign to curb the right to freedom of expression in Africa. « African journalists are increasingly facing governments- inspired violence that is intended to silence the independence and credible voice of journalism. Increasingly, these assaults and campaign of elimination are also targeting human rights defenders and democratic forces that fight for journalists’ and peoples’ right to impartial and receive free information, » says FAJ President Omar Faruk Osman,. On 10 July 10, the Senegalese First Cabinet of the Regional Court of Dakar summoned Abdou Latif Coulibaly, Chief Editor of the Weekly Gazette to answer charges of concealment of administrative and private documents. The judge ordered the indictment of the journalist but released him on bail pending conclusion of investigations. Senegalese journalists consider that the indictment which is based on concealment of documents, constitutes in its content a serious attack to the principle of the right that guarantees under Senegalese substantive law an absolute protection for journalists’ sources of information. « This is the most shocking and reprehensive case to be conceived by the government’s prosecutors in their blatant attempts to manipulate national laws against independent journalism. This case, initiated by a private company and supported by the authorities, sets a negative precedent against investigative journalism. This mischievous, politically motivated and deliberate act of harassment against Abdou Latif Coulibaly must stop, » Omar Faruk said. In Cameroun, Alex Gustave Azebaze, First Secretary of the National Syndicate of Cameroonian Journalists (SNJC) and also IFJ Executive Committee member, Thierry Ngongang, Editor-in-Chief of the privately-owned Spectrum TV; Annani Rabier Bindzi, journalist at Canal 2 International TV and Dr Aboya Endong Manasse, Editor of the bi-monthly newspaper Africa Top Secret have collectively been facing a long, complicated, devastating and tiresome trial since January 2010. Their ordeal stems from their participation in a 2008 TV debate on the police investigations of the « Albatross » saga, the failure to explain how a Boeing 727 purchased for the President’s fleet was never received, six years after local journalists, led by Azebaze revealed the scandal while working for Le Messager. « Our Cameroonian colleagues are held up and stranded in extremely dangerous and tiresome legal battle that meant to take away their time, energy and resources. Once they have been sufficiently worn down, they will be eliminated, freedom of the press will be further eroded and fear and self censorship will replace independent thinking in the hearts of media practitioners, » said Omar. « I reiterate our call for an end to these unjustifiable legal proceedings and once again demand the grave action of closing down their outlets be reversed and our colleagues are allowed to resume their normal and useful service to the journalistic profession, » he declared. « This is the longest legal action journalists’ union leadership faces in Africa and we will not close our eyes to this facade of sham legal action. » Zied El-Heni, member of the leadership of the National Syndicate of Tunisian Journalists (SNJT) and the Steering Committee of FAJ has been followed unremittingly and painstakingly by security operatives of Tunisian Government for defending freedom of expression and campaigning for the release of detained colleague Boukadous Fahem who provided coverage of the uprising in the mining region of southern Tunisia. He was summoned by the Crime Squad on July 23, 2010 to answer charges of defamation, though he was released after four hours of detention after he insisted and defended the legality of his writings that have not violated the code of the press. On Tunisia’s National Day, 25 July 2010, Zied published an open letter to the district attorney in which he expressed his indignation at the manner in which the Crime Squad had been given leave to investigate a matter of opinion. The next day, the Crime Squad called him to their offices. « These repeated and unrelenting attacks against union leader Zied Elheni and the right to free expression is one example of the gross human rights violation that ordinary Tunisians endure daily. Security operatives in Tunisia are a major threat to journalists and have been responsible for several attacks against journalists. The Tunisian government has a duty to protect its citizens from brutal elements in the security forces and must ensure that this assault of journalists stops with immediate effect. The continuing attacks on Zied El-Heni, an elected African journalist’s leader will only increase global attention to the deplorable situation in Tunisia. Our message is clear: stop going after our colleagues and allow them to express themselves freely and fearlessly, » the FAJ President stated. Journalist Jean Claude Kavumbagu, Editor of Net Press news agency in Bujumbura, Burundi, was arrested from his office by Colonel David Nikiza, Police Chief in the western part of Burundi. He was arrested after he had published an article on 12 July in which he talked about Somali extremists group Al-Shabaab’s threats to attack Burundi and was critical of Burundian security forces. He was charged with treason and faces life in prison if convicted. When he was arrested, the police did not follow the proper legal procedures of Burundi and he is being held in contravention of Burundi’s criminal procedure code which states pre-trail detention of the journalists for limited situations. Interestingly the law under which Jean Cloude is charged only applies during war time. « This has no other explanation except a deliberate misuse of state institutions to harass journalists. All laws were bypassed in circumstances that can only be interpreted as vindictive action by officers abusing their positions to settle personal scores. Jean Claude never committed such a serious act of betrayal of his nation and there is no point in charging him with treason. We feel that he will not have a fair trial and we want him freed immediately, » Omar Faruk Osman said. The Federation of African Journalists is committed to devising new strategies to tackle the increasing abuse of legal processes and wanton attacks by security operatives against journalists. FAJ stands in full support and solidarity with its affiliates: Syndicat National des Journalistes du Cameroun (SNJC), Burundi Journalists’ Union (BJU), Syndicat des Professionnels de l’Information et de la Communication du Sénégal (SYNPICS) and Syndicat National des Journalistes tunisiens (SNJT). (Source: africa.ifj.org 29 July 2010)
Circle of media repression widens over Tunisia’s history
Unlike scores of newspapers launched later by political activists to rally against the second-class-citizen status imposed on Tunisians in the wake of the French occupation in 1881, the weekly Arra’id Attunisi solely mirrored the views of the local authorities and echoed news mainly carried by Egyptian and Turkish papers. After the country’s independence in 1956, it became the official gazette.
The price for critical journalism during the 75-year French Protectorate was sometimes costly. In 1911 Arab-language newspapers were banned for nearly 10 years. And in 1912, Ali Bach Hamba, editor of Le Tunisien, the first Tunisian French-language newspaper, and some of his colleagues were forced into exile. Other writers were jailed. All were all accused of being behind social unrest that led to repression and bloodshed in Tunis.
But there were times of tolerance for freedom of expression during the French occupation unseen after the country’s independence in 1956, and particularly since Gen. Zine El Abidine Ben Ali toppled President Habib Bourguiba in a bloodless coup 23 years ago. Despite the colonial climate of segregation and humiliation, “journalists enjoyed then more freedom and censorship was less stifling than today,” Mohamed Talbi, 89, former dean of the Tunis Faculty of Arts and currently president of the banned Observatory for the Freedom of Press, Publishing and Creation (OLPEC) told CPJ.
Bourguiba and his companions, who led the resistance to French occupation, established groups and critical newspapers, such as L’Action Tunisienne. Rarely, however, were they targeted by the kind of vengeful persecution like that of ailing journalist Fahem Boukaddous. His wife and lawyers told CPJ that his acute health problems could lead to his death in prison. Scores of political prisoners have died of lack of medical care in the country’s notorious prisons over the past two decades.
The imprisonment in October of Zouhair Makhlouf and Taoufik Ben Brik was just as rancorous. Since his release in April, Ben Brik has been constantly harassed and receiving anonymous threats on the phone and his home and visitors under tight police surveillance.
The circle of repression of critical journalism has not stopped widening since Ben Ali’s top advisers ordered the closure of the independent weekly Ar-Rai a few weeks after his coup. The last and banned issue carried a column by CPJ International Press Freedom Award winner NazihaRéjibacasting doubt on the ability of the new ruler to lead Tunisia toward democracy.
Scores of Tunisian journalists have been forced into exile. And more foreign correspondents have been expelled or denied entry to Tunisia under Ben Ali than under most of his Arab counterparts, according to CPJ research. One of the latest to be denied entry to cover the mock elections in October wasFlorence Beaugé of the French daily Le Monde. Yet the price paid by local journalists is much higher and never stopped rising.
On July 27, Zied El Heni of the democratically elected board of the National Syndicate of Tunisian Journalists evicted in 2009 (and a leading figure in the African Federation of Journalists) spent several hours at a police station in Tunis for his blogging. He wrote an article titled “Jailing Fahem Boukaddous, a sad day in the history of Tunisian press » on his blog, which is blocked locally.
No wonder Tunisia has topped the lists of enemies of the press and the Internet worldwide and prompted more alerts and reports and letters to its president than any other Arab ruler from international groups committed to freedom of expression, includinga coalition of 20 IFEX members.
Attacks on freedom of expression intensified before Ben Ali’s reelection in October 2009 for a fifth term and in the wake of the publication in France of a critical book, La Régente de Carthage, on the rising political and economic influence of his wife, Leila Trabelsi, and his ubiquitous relatives and in-laws. At least four journalists received death threats, and oblique tactics to harass and to drag reporters into courts and to block websites and prevent the distribution of beleaguered opposition news papers—particularlyAl-Mawkif—have been on the rise over the past months.
Like Rejiba, many believe that the decision to intensify the war on freedom of expression is intended to shield Ben Ali’s family from criticism at a time when their influence over the country’s economic and political institutions, including the media and the judiciary, is increasing rapidly. The sudden adoption in mid-June by the Tunisian Chamber of Deputies of a bill that reinforces the arsenal of legislation used to stifle of freedom of expression is widely seen as a new weapon to further protect the ruling family from scrutiny.
So far concern expressed by Tunisia’s European and U.S. allies have prompted only the customary and groundless claim by the government that all documented facts about press freedom violations, whether gathered by human rights researchers or Western diplomats, were based on “false information.” In July, the Tunisian ministry of foreign affairs said the U.S. State Department spokesman, who had deplored “a decline in political freedoms in Tunisia,” should have spoken instead about “the increasing strength of these freedoms both in theory and in practice.”
(Source: cpj.org/blog/ le 2 aout 2010)
lien:http://cpj.org/blog/2010/08/circle-of-media-repression-widens-over-tunisias-hi.php
Bordj Bou-Arréridj Deux terroristes, dont un Tunisien, arrêtés
La Banque Mondiale salue la Tunisie pour son climat d’investissement
January drugs find in Tunisia leads to more arrests in Malta
L’orientation en star du web en Tunisie
L’orientation universitaire est au cœur des préoccupations des Tunisiens en général, et de nos jeunes internautes en particulier. Et la portée de l’intérêt d’une catégorie de la population est désormais quantifiable via les outils made by Google.
En Tunisie, les recherches sur les termes www.orientation.tn a observé un bond de 1050% faisant de lui le terme le plus recherché sur Google depuis la Tunisie sur les 30 derniers jours. En retrouve également le mot orientation mais sous différentes formes d’écriture (“www.orientation.tn 2010” +900%, “orientation.tn” +550%, “orientation” +250%) de la 2ième à la 4ième place. C’est dire que l’orientation universitaire est au cœur des préoccupations des Tunisiens en général, et de nos jeunes internautes en particulier. Et la portée de l’intérêt d’une catégorie de la population est désormais quantifiable.
Google Insight for search est un service de la firme de Mountain View qui se base sur les mots clés saisis par les internautes sur son moteur de recherche. On peut y découvrir les tendances des recherches par pays sur une période bien déterminée.
Pour les IP tunisiennes, Google insight for search nous apprend donc plus les centres d’intérêt et les comportements des Tunisiens sur le Net. Sur les 30 derniers jours, les recherches des internautes tunisiens sur Google tournaient autour de l’orientation universitaire.
Donc finalement, la recherche sur l’orientation universitaire depuis les IP tunisiennes était de l’ordre de +2750% en seulement 30 jours. Toujours dans le même esprit, on notera également l’augmentation du nombre des recherches sur le terme www.inscription.tn qui se positionne à la 7ième place du classement avec +60% de fréquence de recherches.
Les internautes tunisiens se sont également intéressés au foot. On retrouve ainsi les termes “Esperance de tunis” à la dixième et dernière place, mais ces mots clés ont observé un bond de +50 en 30 jours sur le nombre des recherches sur Google.
Sur les 7 derniers jours par contre, ces centres d’intérêt ont changé selon l’actu du moment. On retrouve ainsi à la première place le terme “om” pour Olympique de Marseille concernant le match qui s’est joué avec le PSG à Tunis, en deuxième la chaine de télé nationale “Tunis 7” et en troisième et quatrième position “la Météo”. Ceci pourrait s’expliquer par les baisses de température et les rafales de vents qui se sont abattus brusquement sur la Tunisie durant le weekend après une semaine caniculaire.
Le terme orientation quant à lui persiste dans le classement mais il se dégringole à la 9ième et 10ième place. On notera toutefois l’apparition de l’URL du ministère de l’enseignement supérieur (www.mes.tn) dans ce classement à la +70% de taux de recherches durant les 7 derniers jours.
(Source: Tekiano.com le 2 aout 2010) Source:http://www.tekiano.com/net/web-2-0/2-7-2494/l-orientation-en-star-du-web-en-tunisie.html
Assurance maladie… Prise en charge de l’hypertension artérielle Pertes «sèches» pour la CNAM !
Que Dieu nous assiste !
Tunisie : La loi sur le mariage et la propriété fait polémique
L’islamophobie a-t-elle un parti?
(New York) La publicité télévisée s’ouvre sur les mots «l’audace du djihad» écrits en lettres blanches sur fond noir. Suivent les images des avions s’encastrant dans le World Trade Center et de corps tombant des tours. Dans le même temps, une voix hors champ se fait entendre.
«Le 11 septembre, ils nous ont déclaré la guerre. Et pour célébrer le meurtre de 3 000 Américains, ils veulent construire une mosquée monstrueuse de 13 étages à Ground Zero. Cette mosquée est un monument à leur victoire. Et une invitation à d’autres», dit le narrateur sur un ton menaçant.
À la mi-juillet, deux chaînes de télévision américaines, CBS et NBC, ont refusé de diffuser cette pub, car elles jugeaient inacceptable l’amalgame entre les responsables des attentats contre le WTC et les promoteurs d’un centre communautaire musulman comprenant théâtre, piscine, gymnase et salle de prière, dont l’emplacement se trouve à deux blocs de Ground Zero.
Conçue par le National Republican Trust PAC, une organisation vouée à «la perpétuation de l’héritage de Ronald Reagan», la publicité controversée illustre la propension à l’islamophobie de plusieurs opposants à un projet qu’ils appellent abusivement la «mosquée de Ground Zero».
Il faut préciser que le projet de l’imam new-yorkais Faisal Abdul Rauf, reconnu pour son travail en faveur de la coexistence des religions, n’est pas le seul à susciter des réactions islamophobes ces jours-ci aux États-Unis. La construction de centres islamiques ou de mosquées dans certaines municipalités, dont Murfreesboro (Tennessee) et Temecula (Californie), suscite également une vive opposition qui confine parfois à l’intolérance ou à la haine.
«Ils détruisent la communauté. Ils détruisent le pays», a déclaré vendredi un des participants à une manifestation anti-mosquée à Temecula dont les organisateurs avaient encouragé les citoyens à défiler avec leurs chiens parce que les «musulmans haïssent les chiens».
Républicains
Le projet new-yorkais est cependant celui qui domine l’attention, non seulement à New York, mais également dans le reste des États-Unis. Ne craignant pas d’être associés à l’islamophobie ambiante ou de lui donner un vernis de respectabilité, plusieurs politiciens républicains, dont deux candidats potentiels à la Maison-Blanche, Sarah Palin et Newt Gingrich, ont exprimé récemment leur opposition à la construction du centre communautaire musulman.
L’ex-candidate à la vice-présidence a ainsi appelé les «musulmans pacifistes» à «répudier» un projet dont elle a assimilé la réalisation à un acte violent. «Il poignarde les coeurs», a-t-elle écrit sur son compte Twitter. De son côté, l’ex-président de la Chambre des représentants a laissé entendre que les musulmans auront le droit de construire une mosquée près de Ground Zero lorsque les juifs ou les chrétiens pourront construire des églises et des synagogues en Arabie Saoudite.
Sarah Palin et Newt Gingrich ne nagent pas à contre-courant. À New York même, une majorité de citoyens sont opposés à «la mosquée de Ground Zero», selon au moins un sondage. Le candidat républicain au poste de gouverneur de l’État, Rick Lazio, en a pris bonne note et a mis au défi son adversaire candidat démocrate, Andrew Cuomo, de participer à un débat portant uniquement sur ce projet appelé Cordoba House.
Même en Caroline-du-Nord, un candidat républicain à la Chambre des représentants a admis obtenir un vif succès dans sa circonscription rurale grâce à ses dénonciations d’un projet qui a reçu l’appui de tous les responsables new-yorkais et de plusieurs religieux juifs et chrétiens. Après avoir évoqué l’idée d’une «mosquée» près de Ground Zero devant une foule de fermiers et d’anciens combattants, il a confié à un journaliste du New York Times : «La réaction a été unanime. Il y avait du dégoût et du dédain pour cette idée.»
Tournure inattendue
Le débat autour de la Cordoba House a pris une tournure inattendue vendredi lorsque la Ligue antidiffamation (ADL), une des plus importantes organisations de lutte contre l’antisémitisme et le racisme aux États-Unis, a annoncé son opposition au projet. Tout en dénonçant l’intolérance de certains opposants, l’ADL est arrivée à la même conclusion qu’eux?: «Construire un centre islamique à l’ombre du World Trade Center» est une mauvaise idée.
Mais qu’en est-il des droits des citoyens musulmans?? Selon le directeur de l’ADL, Abraham Fox, ces droits ne sauraient avoir la prépondérance sur la douleur des proches des victimes du 11 septembre, dont plusieurs sont opposés au projet de l’imam Rauf. C’est un peu ce que disait Sarah Palin en comparant la Cordoba House à un coup de poignard dans le coeur.
Et les islamophobes de se féliciter de ces nouveaux et précieux appuis à leur cause.
(Source: Cyberpresse.ca le 02 aout 2010)
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