Well, five at the last count and given the burgeoning numbers of bloggers and activists being censored it seemed the natural next step to start a catalogue, nay, a scrapbook of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali’s illustrious forays into ‘democracy’.
This week’s case invariably involves a critique of the President, a questionable trial and a subsequent jail sentence:
A prominent critic of Tunisian leader President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali has been jailed for six months after a trial criticised by rights groups.
Taoufik Ben Brik was convicted of assaulting a woman in public.
But he claimed he had been framed and Amnesty International has described him as a “prisoner of conscience” and condemned his sentence.
The 49-year-old journalist was said to be ill and in need of medical treatment after his arrest in October. [Source]
Censorship is bad enough; when scurrilous charges are trumped up to consolidate an otherwise baseless case it becomes all the more abhorrent.
And still the West sees little reason to comment; rather, a slight wrinkling of the nose before turning the head away.
‘It’s only little Tunisia, after all; what of the rights of its people?’ seems to be the sentiment du jour.
See also: Dirty Business in Tunisia, Of Ben Ali and “Special Attention”, Blogger Abdallah Zouari Rearrested, and Slim Boukhdhir: the Plucky Blogger.
Filed under: Africa, Censorship, Politics , Censorship, human rights, Maghreb, North Africa, Politics, Tunis, Tunisia, Tunisie, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali
