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DonateJournalists die at high rates while
covering protests in the Arab world and elsewhere. Photographers and
freelancers appear vulnerable. Pakistan is again the deadliest nation. A CPJ special report
Committee to Protect Journalists
Tunisia
2011
Reports
| Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Iraq, Libya, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Russia, Somalia, Special Reports, Syria, Thailand, Tunisia, Vietnam, Yemen
New York, May 9, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists called on the Tunisian authorities today to restrain from attacking journalists reporting on anti-government demonstrations after plainclothes police physically assaulted 15 local and international journalists on Friday.
The world’s worst online oppressors are using an array of tactics, some reflecting astonishing levels of sophistication, others reminiscent of old-school techniques. From China’s high-level malware attacks to Syria’s brute-force imprisonments, this may be only the dawn of online oppression. A CPJ special report by Danny O’Brien 
In our special report, "The 10 Tools of Online Oppressors," CPJ examines the 10 prevailing strategies of online oppression worldwide and the countries that have taken the lead in their use. In this accompanying podcast, CPJ Deputy Director Robert Mahoney notes that these strategies range from sophisticated cyber-attacks to traditional brute-force techniques. Listen to the podcast on the player above, or right click here to download an MP3. (2:47)
Read CPJ's special report, "The 10 Tools of Online Oppressors."
Attacks on the Press
| Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Lebanon, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia, Turkey, Yemen
Suppression Under the Cover of National Security
By Mohamed Abdel Dayem
Relying on an extensive network of sources in the military, government, and Islamist groups, Yemeni freelance journalist Abdulelah Shaea had become a frequent and pointed critic of the administration's counterterrorism efforts. By July, President Ali Abdullah Saleh's government had enough, dispatching security agents to seize and roughly interrogate Shaea for several hours about his reporting.
• Targeting journalists, government criminalizes contact with foreign organizations.
• Private broadcast licenses are controlled by Ben Ali's family and friends.
Key Statistic
5: Years of imprisonment for violations of new law barring contact with foreign groups.
Tunisia remained one of the region's most repressive nations even as it sought to project an image of liberalism and modernity. The government of President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali jailed at least three journalists during the year, one of whom remained in custody when CPJ conducted its annual census of imprisoned journalists on December 1. Vague new legislation targeted critical journalists and human rights defenders by criminalizing international communications that the government deemed harmful to its interests.
On Sunday, the
privately owned broadcaster Hannibal TV was forced off the air for more than three
hours. The state-owned news agency Agence Tunis Afrique Presse (TAP) issued a statement
stating that an arrest warrant had been issued for the station's owner on
charges of "high treason" for an alleged "plot to destabilize national
security." The statement accused the owner of using the Hannibal broadcasts to
undermine Tunisia's stability.
There has been a great deal written online about how much of a positive role the Internet played in recent events in Tunisia (if you'd like to catch up, Alex Howard's link round-up provides a good summary of the many sides, both for and against). At CPJ, our focus is on slightly different questions: How did the repression of the Internet hamper the ability to safely gather news, report and analyze such events? Did that repression grow worse in the dying days of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's government? Will it improve in the future?
For those who have spent countless hours exposing and combating Tunisia's vast press freedom abuses, today is truly a glorious day. Tunisian authorities released the ailing imprisoned journalist Fahem Boukadous, a day after CPJ called on the transitional government to honor its pledge to free all political prisoners. Today, we can loudly proclaim that no journalist or blogger is imprisoned in the government's dungeons and that Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's censorship is no longer imposed on Tunisians.
So much has happened in Tunisia since I last blogged on the large-scale phishing attacks against activists and journalists in the country. With the fall of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, and a new interim government in place, online censorship seems to be ending. Opposition media and human rights sites are viewable, and CPJ's Tunisia reports are now available in the country (although it was always possible to access them through our https service). Social networking sites such as Facebook are available without the password-stealing code of the previous cybersecurity regime. I've yet to hear of any site that remains blocked, although Tunisia's filtering system was so byzantine, it's hard to conclusively tell whether it has been completely shut down.
New York, January 18, 2011--Tunisia's transitional government should immediately release Fahem Boukadous, a television reporter imprisoned last year in reprisal for his work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. CPJ also offered condolences to the family and colleagues of French photographer Lucas Mebrouk Dolega, who died of head injuries suffered while covering the civil unrest in the capital, Tunis.
New York, January 14, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists is heartened by news reports that three jailed Tunisian journalists have been freed as the repressive regime of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali has fallen. CPJ calls on the new interim Tunisian government to release one other journalist believed to be still in custody.
New York, January 12, 2010--Tunisian authorities must end their weeks-long crackdown on bloggers and reporters covering street protests, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Scores of journalists have been detained in the past four weeks, three of whom remain in custody. Local and international reporters have faced continued harassment, including detention, restrictions on movement, and denial of entry into the country. CPJ calls on Tunis to release the imprisoned journalists immediately, grant access to the international press, and allow local reporters to cover the unrest without interference.
The Tunisian government has been a notorious censor for many years, for journalists online and off. In the wake of widespread domestic protests in December, however, the authorities appear to have turned to even more repressive tactics to silence reporting. In the case of Internet bloggers, this includes what seems a remarkably invasive and technically sophisticated plan to steal passwords from the country's own citizens, in order to spy on private communications and squelch online speech.
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