Tunisia / Middle East & North Africa

  

Al-Jazeera journalist Samir Sassi arrested on undisclosed charges in Tunisia

New York, January 4, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by reports that Tunisian authorities arrested journalist Samir Sassi and calls for his immediate and unconditional release. On Wednesday, January 3, police raided and searched the home of Sassi, a reporter at Qatari broadcaster Al-Jazeera, in the capital Tunis and arrested him, according to…

Read More ›

Tunisian journalist Zied el-Heni was recently arrested for allegedly insulting the president. (Screenshot: YouTube/IFM)

Tunisian journalist Zied el-Heni arrested after criticizing commerce minister

New York, January 2, 2024—Tunisian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release journalist Zied el-Heni and drop all charges against him, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. On December 28, police arrested el-Heni, a prominent columnist and political commentator for the daily “Émission Impossible” show on the independent radio station IFM, after he responded to…

Read More ›

Tunisian authorities jail journalist Khalifa Guesmi over national security charge

New York, September 5, 2023—CPJ has called on Tunisian authorities to release journalist Khalifa Guesmi, who was taken into custody on Sunday to serve his five-year prison sentence on charges of disclosing national security information.  “The September 3 arrest of journalist Khalifa Guesmi is a clear attack on journalists and the freedom of the press…

Read More ›

Tunisian journalist Zied el-Heni was recently arrested for allegedly insulting the president. (Screenshot: YouTube/IFM)

Tunisian authorities arrest journalist Zied el-Heni for allegedly insulting president

New York, June 21, 2023 – Tunisian authorities should immediately and unconditionally release journalist Zied el-Heni, the Committee to Protect journalists said Wednesday. On Tuesday, June 20, plainclothes security officers arrested el-Heni, a prominent columnist and political commentator for the daily online radio show “Émission Impossible” on the independent radio station IFM, according to news…

Read More ›

Tunisian court increases prison sentence for journalist Khalifa Guesmi from 1 to 5 years

New York, May 18, 2023 – Tunisian authorities should immediately drop all charges against journalist Khalifa Guesmi and ensure he is not imprisoned for his work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. On Tuesday, May 16, an appeals court in Tunis sentenced Guesmi, a correspondent for the local independent radio station and news website Mosaique…

Read More ›

Independent journalists banned from covering opening session of new Tunisian parliament

New York, March 14, 2023—In response to news reports that Tunisian lawmakers on Monday banned all non-state media journalists from covering the opening session of parliament, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued the following statement of condemnation: “Barring journalists from covering the opening session of Tunisia’s new parliament is President Kais Saied’s latest attempt to…

Read More ›

Tunisian police file complaint against journalist Mohamed Mehdi Jlassi over July protests

New York, February 24, 2023 — In response to news reports that Tunisian journalist Mohamed Mehdi Jlassi, president of the National Syndicate of Tunisian Journalists, faces prosecution for allegedly inciting disobedience and assaulting police during a July 2022 protest in the capital Tunis, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued the following statement on Friday: “Tunisian…

Read More ›

Tunisian authorities arrest Mosaique FM director Noureddine Boutar

New York, February 14, 2023 – Tunisian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release journalist Noureddine Boutar and allow journalists and media workers to work freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. On Monday, February 13, police raided and searched the home of Boutar, the director of the local independent radio station and news website…

Read More ›

CPJ submits reports on Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco to United Nations Universal Periodic Review

The human rights records of Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco are under review by the United Nations Human Rights Council through the Universal Periodic Review (UPR). This U.N. mechanism is a peer-review process that surveys the human rights performance of member states, monitoring progress from previous review cycles, and presents a list of recommendations on how a…

Read More ›

Tunisia Mission

Journalists tell CPJ how Tunisia’s tough new constitution curbs their access to information

When a CPJ researcher sat down with Lotfi Hajji, Tunisia bureau chief of Qatari broadcaster Al-Jazeera at a coffee shop in Tunis in July, we noticed that a man sitting directly behind us was recording our conversation on his phone. When we stood up to take a selfie with him in the background, the man…

Read More ›