Tunisia

Imprisoned Tunisian Internet activist Zouhair Yahyaoui is in the fifth day of his hunger strike to protest the harsh conditions of his confinement. Zouhair Yahyaoui founded TUNeZine.com soon after he graduated from college. Yahyaoui has been held captive since June, 2002, when he was sentenced to 24 months for posting satirical criticism of the Tunisian government on his Web site, Tunezine.

In a 19 June 2002 letter to Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, CPJ protested the arrest and prosecution of Zouhair Yahyaoui, an Internet café employee and editor of the online publication "Tunezine". On the evening of 4 June, plainclothes state agents detained Yahyaoui at an Internet café in the capital, Tunis. Authorities then searched Yahyaoui's home and confiscated disks and other computer materials. After spending several days in detention, Yahyaoui was charged in court on 13 Jun...read more

Tunisia's recent crackdown on cyber-dissidents has taken an ominous turn with the arrest and detention of journalist Zouhair Yahyaoui, founder and editor of the online news site TUNeZINE.

RSF has protested the 4 June 2002 arrest of Zouhair Yahyaoui, founder and editor of the online newspaper "TUNeZINE", and the government's suppression of the newspaper's website.

The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) is seriously concerned for the future of human rights in Tunisia, following a constitutional referendum which was, according to the Ministry of the Interior, approved by more than 99 per cent of voters. There is a real danger that the new constitutional powers will be used by the President of the Republic in order to further stifle any dissent within the country and to institutionalise his personal powers by giving him supreme authority over the l...read more

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