UPDATE: Human Rights First is pleased to announce that Zouhair Yahyaoui was released from prison on November 18, 2003. He is currently unemployed and in Tunisia.

Tunisian web journalist tortured, sentenced to 28 months in prison

A court in Tunisia has sentenced Zouhair Yahyaoui, founder and editor of the satirical webzine "Tunezine," to two years and four months in prison.

Yahyaoui was arrested on June 4th at a Tunis internet cafe by six plainclothes police officers, who showed no badges and gave no reason for the arrest. He was taken to his home, where the police searched his bedroom and seized his computer equipment.

His lawyer, who visited him in jail, said he had been slapped and hit on the head while being interrogated. According to his lawyer, Yahyaoui was undressed and tortured three times by being made to hang by his arms with feet barely touching the ground. After the last session of this, he revealed the password to his site, which enabled the authorities to block public access to it.

Yahyaoui was sentenced to a year in prison for "putting out false news" and to another year and four months for "unauthorized use of an Internet connection" and "stealing from his employer." He decided not to attend court to hear the verdict because he said he had "no confidence in mock justice."

Tunisia has ratified many international human rights treaties, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.  Yahyaoui's alleged torture is a clear violation of Article 7 of the ICCPR, which outlaws torture.  His prosecution and imprisonment is a violation of Article 19 of the Covenant that upholds the right to freedom of expression.

Yahyaoui, who uses the pseudonym "Ettounsi" ("The Tunisian"), set up his website in July last year to put out news about the fight for democracy and freedom in Tunisia. Aside from posting humor and satirical pieces, he published opposition material online and was one of the first people to circulate a letter from his uncle, Judge Mokhtar Yahyaoui, to President Ben Ali criticizing the country's legal system. (The regime's response to the letter has been to strip Mukhtar Yahyaoui has of his judgeship, forbid him to leave the country and continually harass the judge and his family.)

Between 26 and 28 May, TUNeZINE organized an online forum on the constitutional referendum which allowed President Ben Ali, who seized power in 1987, to stay in office for up to another ten years.  During the referendum, Yahyaoui held his own online conference, asking visitors if they thought Tunisia was "a) a republic, b) a kingdom, c) a zoo, or d) a prison."
 

The website has been suppressed by the authorities from the very start. But each week a list of "proxy" addresses was available so Tunisians could log on to the site.  A few hours after Yahyaoui's arrest, the site had vanished from the Internet. It has since returned but access from Tunisia is only possible with very powerful proxy addresses.

Human Rights First joins with many other human rights organizations in condemning this latest abuse of press freedom and due process rights in Tunisia.  Zouhair Yahyaoui should be released and the charges against him dropped.  The reports that he was subjected to torture while under interrogation should be investigated.  If they are substantiated, those responsible should be held accountable. 
   

LINKS:

Tunezine:

www.tunezine.com

Comité pour le Respect des Libertés et des Droits de l'Homme en Tunisie :
www.maghreb-ddh.sgdg.org/crldh t/

Reporters without Borders :

http://www.rsf.org/content.php3