Global Voices Advocacy » Lina Ben Mhenni

Tunisia: Censorship Continues as Wikileaks Cables Make the Rounds

Lina Ben Mhenni — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 12:46:08 +0000

Tunisian activists pounced on the latest Wikileaks US Embassy Cables, dedicating a new website to republish and discuss the revelations related to their country. Tunileaks, was launched by Nawaat one hour after the whistle-blowing site unleashed the cables on Sunday, November 28th.

The first release contained 17 cables issued from the US Embassy in Tunisia. The majority of these cables show the exchanges between the embassy and the US State Department. The classified documents were transmitted between May 28th, 2008, and February 9th, 2010. Two of the documents were written by the present Ambassador Gordon Gray whereas the remaining 15 were by his predecessor.

They mainly dealt with the neglect of human rights in Tunisia and the restrictions on freedom of expression. On Twitter, the hashtag #tunileaks was created. There, people shared different secrets revealed by the site.

The Tunisian government, known for its restriction on freedom of expression, rapidly blocked the access to Tunileaks. They first blocked http://tunileaks.appspot.com/ (without the https). One day later, they blocked Google App Engine's IP address (209.85.229.141) in order to block Tunileaks under https, making appspot.com partially unavailable in the country.

Even the electronic version of the Lebanese newspaper ‘Al akhbar' has been censored in Tunisia after the publication of some cables released by Tunileaks.

Will more of the Tunisian cyberspace become restricted as more cables and secrets are revealed and published?

Tunisia: Student Mohamed Soudani Jailed for Media Interview

Lina Ben Mhenni — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 12:54:16 +0000

Tunisian student Mohamed Soudani, 24, disappeared on October 22, 2009, in Tunisia after giving interviews to Radio Monte Carlo International and Radio France International.

Soudani was missing for 18 days until Tunisia’s police contacted his family inform them that he is detained in the Murnaguiya prison about 15km away from the capital Tunis.

According to sources, the police also informed Soudani’s family that he was put on trial and convicted for “disorderly conduct” during his detention without legal counsel and was sentenced to four months in prison. They also learned that he had since appealed his sentence.

During his court appearance on December 6, Soudani denied the charges filed against him and stated that he was tortured aggressively during his extrajudicial detention. His lawyers asked for a recess to study the case and his release on bail. The release request was denied while his trial was adjourned to December 14, 2009.

Soudani was interviewed about his past activities as a student leader in the General Union of the Students of Tunisia. He was involved last year in a 56-day hunger strike with another four students demanding their right to go back to school. They have also blogged about their hunger strike experience day by day on a blog which had been censored in Tunisia.

A Facebook group and a blog have been created to support Mohamed Soudani in the hardships he is experiencing.

Nasser Weddady helped in this post.

Tunisia: Ammar 404 is Back and Censoring Blogs Again

Lina Ben Mhenni — Sat, 16 May 2009 09:12:33 +0000

After a short hiatus, the dreaded Ammar 404 has once again attacked the Tunisian blogosphere. Ammar is the nickname given by Tunisian bloggers to the censorship machine plaguing their access to the Internet and his victim this time is Zig Zag blog by 3amrouch. It seem that the blog has been censored for republishing screen shots of a Canadian newspaper which unveils a real estate transaction in which the Tunisian President's son-in-law Mohamed Sakhr El Matri bought a villa in Canada for a huge amount of money - information which the Tunisian Government wants to hide from its people. Many bloggers wrote about this censorship and condemned it.

Samsoum wrote:

Le blog de 3amrouch a été censure car il a repris une information publique sur un journal canadien qui est accessible a tout le monde. Par solidarité je publie aussi le lien vers ce journal qui cite dans sa page 10 la transaction immobilière qu'on veut cacher a tout prix. Et qu'on censure ce blog aussi!!!

3amrouch’s blog has been censored for reprinting public information from a Canadian newspaper that is accessible to everyone. In solidarity, I am also publishing the link to this newspaper which shows on page 10 the real estate transaction they want to hide at all costs. Let them censor this blog too!!!

Thoughts of an ex-Muslim wrote:

مادام لم يدع لكره أو عنف أو ارهاب ،
لا للحجب دون قرار قضائي واضح و علني و مسبب، لا للحجب بسبب نقد مظاهر الفساد ، الغبي الذي اتخذ القرار تقفيفا لسيدي بوحجر انما خدم عمروش و أضر سيده الصغير

As long as he did not call for hatred, violence, or terrorism, no to censorship without a clear, open and reasonable judicial decision. No to censorship for criticizing aspects of corruption. The stupid person who took the censorship decision to please Sidi Bouhjar (the name given to Sakhr El Materi), served 3amrouch at the detriment of his little master.

Ordinary stories blogged saying:

المدونة متاع عمروش تم حجبها لأنها تناولت موضوع ما عجبش المسؤولين على أمننا وسلامتنا
قد ما قلنا ونددنا بهذه الممارسات، عمار ما فهمش، ما هوش فاهم وماهوش ناوي يفهم
هذاك علاش، تضامنا مع المدونة المحجوبة باش نعاود ننشر الموضوع إلي أغلب الظن أنه كان السبب وراء عملية الحجب

3amrouch's blog has been censored because it tackled a subject that did not please those responsible of our security and safety. Despite the fact that we condemned these practices, Ammar did not understand. He is not understanding and he is not going to understand. This is why I am republishing the same subject which is probably the reason for the censorship.

“Matroudine”, website of Tunisian students on Hunger Strike censored

Lina Ben Mhenni — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 11:02:49 +0000

Tunisian authorities have blocked access to the Matroudine website dedicated to provide information and support for the five students and activists from the Tunisian General Student Union (UGET) who went on hunger strike to protest their arbitrary exclusion from Tunisian universities and deprivation of their right to education because of their activism within the UGET.

Screenshot of the Tunisian infamous 404 blockpage

The five young UGET unionists, namely Ali bouzouzeya, Taoufik Louati, Aymen Jaabiri, Mohamed Boualleg, and Mohamed Soudani, have been on hunger strike since February 11th, 2009. After more than 48 days of hunger strike their health condition has greatly worsened. However, Tunisian authorities continue not to react.

Tunisia: National Day for Freedom of Blogging on November 4

Lina Ben Mhenni — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 09:56:03 +0000

Tunisian bloggers are rallying for a National Day for Freedom of Blogging on November 4. The day will coincide with a court hearing for a lawsuit filed by the journalist and blogger Zied El Heni against the Tunisian Internet Agency (ATI).

It all started when Tunisian internet surfers welcomed with happiness the repeal of a ban placed on video sharing sites YouTube and Dailymotion. Many Tunisian bloggers celebrated this repeal of the ban by posting videos of songs downloaded from those two video websites on their blogs. But their happiness was cut short as the repeal did not last more than 24 hours. Very soon, the Tunisians discovered that there was in fact no repeal of the ban at all. Rather, a problem with the software and filters used by the ATI resulted in its failure to block these two video websites. The repeal of the ban, which had been welcomed with such enthusiasm, was actually just an accident and a mistake.

Meanwhile, journalist and blogger El Heni is suing the ATI for the censorship of Facebook, which had lasted for 16 days. The trial will take place on November 4 and as a sign of solidarity with his action, a group of bloggers decided that this date will henceforth be baptized as a national day for blogging freedom.

Blogger Abunadem, whose blog had been censored more than twice, spearheaded the campaign on Anticensuretounes, collective blog by Tunisian bloggers on anti-censorship. He explains:

بمناسبة القضية اللي رفعها الصحفي و المدون زياد الهاني ضد عمار 404 واللي تعينتلو الجلسة نهار 4 نوفمبر …( وهي القضية نفسها اللي رفعوها اوخيان اخرين ضد حوادث 404 باشي ) ممكن يكون يوم 4 نوفمبر يوم كل مدون لان القضية قضيتو بدرجة اولى …ممكن نعتبروه يوم وطني من اجل حرية التدوين ونساندوا خونا زياد حتى بالصمت العاجز ………من خلال تدوينات بيضاء او بانيار يعلن هذا الحدث .
والى الامام …لنتكاتف ضد عمار .

The journalist and blogger El Heni has sued the ATI and the trial has been set for November 4th 2008. It would be a great idea to announce this day “every blogger's day” because this cause is every blogger's cause. It should also be considered a Tunisian National Day for Blogging Freedom. We can support our brother Zied even by our desperate silence, expressed through a White Blog Day or by a common logo on our blogs signaling this event . Let's go ahead .Let's unite against censorship!!

Writing on the same blog, Bachbouch further explains:

Tunisian blogs became the main supplier of unbiased news for Tunisians living inside and abroad. Blogging became a responsibility and bloggers are now citizens who can create jeopardy to any government agency trying to cover and shadow information that doesn’t project a picture of a stable and democratic, government of a country experiencing a fast economic growth.
That in mind, we decided that, as we took this heavy responsibility on our shoulders, we are entitled to a law that protects us from any abuse and unlawful censorship. This law should also shield us from any unlawful investigation and arrest due to the content of our blogs as long as it doesn’t break any law acknowledged by our constitution. This same law will punish any person or entity that shall intentionally break it.
Zied El Heni’s symbolic law suite against “Tunisian Internet Agency” inspired us to launch our movement and decided to have November 4th, the date of the first hearing, as a National Day For Freedom of Blogging. This movement was immediately embraced by most if not all the Tunisian bloggers who will be the force that fuels and inspires this movement.
We will be reaching out parties of our government soon with all our demands hoping for a great cooperation.

The result is an overwhelming support from bloggers, such as Mayadine, who writes:

للأصدقاء اللي تفاعلو ايجابيا
مع اقتراح ابو ناظم في مدونة : ضد الحجب
في ان يكون يوم 4 نوفمبر من كل عام ، هو
اليوم الوطني لحرية التدوين
مّاله انا بدوري
نتوجّه للجميع بدعوة للانضمام الى هالاقتراح
ليكن يوم 4 نوفمبر يومنا الوطني من اجل ان
ندوّن
نخربش
نكتب
نفكر
نعبّر
نتحاو
نتناقش
نضيف
ننقد
نطلق اجنحة اقلامنا

To the friends who positively responded to Abu Nadhem's proposition in the Anti-censorship in Tunisia blog to set November 4th as the national day for freedom of blogging. I invite to join this campaign so that this day will be our day to blog, scribble, write, think, discuss, comment, criticize and let our pens speak freely.

To support the initiative, Facebook user Bassem Bouguerra created a Facebook group entitled: November 4th: A National Day for Blogging Freedom. Since its launch on October 1, more than 330 members have so far joined the call. This relatively great number can really be considered a great achievement, in a country where people have been raised in fear of speaking out freely. This show of support is also remarkable considering that many people avoid joining groups dealing with matters of freedom of expression and other controversial issues. They fear persecution and jail.

Members on the Facebook group are exchanging ideas about the best methods to overcome censorship and limits on freedom of expression.

Seifeddine Ben Fatthallah, for instance, writes:

“I hope that the trial against ATI will not be only Zied El Heni's trial against ATI but it will be rather the trial of all Tunisians against ATI. It will not be only for internet users. In fact, the problem is larger than it seems to be as it is going beyond all limits. I hope that the information about limits on freedom of expression will reach every Tunisian citizen.”

Hayett Abed explains that Tunisian law guarantees freedom of expression. He notes:

القانون التونسي يضمن حرية التعبير، و التعبير يمكن يكون في جميع وسائل الإعلام المتاحة ، و بما أنو ما فمّاش ما ينص على التدوين في القانون التونسي باعتبارو داخل في تكنولوجيا جديدة، فإن قبول السلطة بإدخال تكنولوجيا الأنترنات وحثها للمواطنين باش يستعملوها و تقديم كل المساعدات للعايلات المتوسطة باش يشريو الحاسوب العايلي و استعمال الأنترنات يعتبر ضمنيا بقبولها لكل ما توفره الأنترنات و امكانية استغلاله من طرف الشعب الكريم

Tunisian law guarantees freedom of expression and this freedom should be through all available means. Because Tunisian law lacks stipulations about blogging and because the Internet is part of new media and modern technologies, the government's approval to introduce such technologies to our countries is equivalent to its approval and acceptance to the use of the different services available on internet, including the different websites and blogs created by internet users.

And while it is really sad to see so many blogs and websites under the ATI's siege, and witness how Tunisia continues to violate freedom of expression while claiming at international gatherings that it is a leader of freedom and human rights, it is inspiring and encouraging to see so many Tunisians voices rising to say No to oppression and barriers on freedom of expression.

Tunisia: 404 not found

Lina Ben Mhenni — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 16:48:23 +0000

Tunisian internet users are now too familiar with this error message 404 not found and they have even created an imaginary person that is responsible for censorship and nicknamed it Ammar the scissors of censorship. While in Tunisia, just try to open Youtube or Daily motion; you will get this error message! And if you want to get news from Al Jazeera or Alarabiya, the Tunisian Internet Agency is sorry because it cannot provide you with this service! You want to know more about the real life in Tunisia from the writings of Tunisian people? You try to visit sites such as Tunisinews, aafaq.org , or nawaat.org, we are again sorry, we cannot grant you this privilege. Your Tunisian friends that you had just met in Tunisia told you about his/her blog and gave you the link to take a look, we are really sorry this is impossible!

News about online censorship in Tunisia is now widespread on the net and this especially after the recent ban on the social networking website Facebook. I was in the United States when I heard about the censorship of facebook in my country and I had been really chocked by this piece of sad news. Indeed, Facebook is used by thousands of Tunisians for different goals and especially for work and business and even one of the two communication operators in Tunisia has launched an advertising campaign in it. As to me Facebook has allowed me to keep in touch with my friends worldwide, to meet childhood friends that I have lost for years and years, to communicate with my students and supervisors, and to know about different cultural, social, and sportive activities in Tunisia and abroad. Bad news succeeded one another, two days later I heard about the censorship of the blog I co-write with my boyfriend. Again I was chocked and spent the whole night looking for a definition for censorship to find some convincing reasons explaining this practice and I came out with the following results:

According to Wikipedia, Censorship is the suppression of speech or deletion of communicative material which may be considered objectionable, harmful or sensitive, as determined by a censor. The rationale for censorship is different for various types of data censored.
It can be moral (pornography), military (the process of keeping military intelligence and tactics away especially from espionage), political (governments holding back secret information from their citizens. The logic is to prevent the free expression needed to rebel), religious (the means by which any material objectionable to a certain faith is removed), and finally corporate (the process by which editors in corporate media outlets intervene to halt the publishing of information that portrays their business or business partners in a negative light).

I also found out that many countries are exercising control over the internet and that few governments are open about informing their citizens about internet controls. There is no place you can get an answer as a citizen from your state about how they are filtering and what is being filtered. Filtering and censorship happen in the shadows and that is how I realized that I am not going to find an answer to my questions. We, my boyfriend and I, just reopened the blog and went ahead with writing.

On Wednesday 17th September 2008 I discovered that the blog is censored again. The first censorship occurred in August 21st, so less than a month ago. I again tried to find a logical reason for this censorship and I again spent the night reading and re-reading the different posts of the blog in the hope of finding an answer but in vain. Some bloggers with whom I had discussions explained to me that it should be due to my post about the death of a Tunisian man shot by the Tunisia police for the mere reason of taking part in a demonstration. Again we just re-opened the blog and went ahead with writing. But less than 12 hours after, the blog is censored again and for no reason again.

My blog is not the only blog censored in Tunisia the list is too long .Hardly does the sun rises without learning about the censorship of a blog here is: Astrubal, Mochageb, enne9ed, Samsoum, For Gafsa, Against Censorship, Free word, Free Race, etc . Pardon me if I cannot mention all the censored blogs; the list is so long that I cannot retain all of them. All have undergone a case of censorship and now re -censorship. But the problem does not stop at censorship it reaches arrests, punishment, and persecution of internet users. Cases include: the Tunisian journalist and blogger Slim Boukhdhir and the Online writer Mohamed Abbou. And again the list is not complete.