Dissent In Tunisia

An interesting article from the Washington Post about the Tunisian government jailing and punishing dissenters using the Internet. From the article:

Government censors routinely block access to content and sites that draw concern. Monitors at public computers keep watch on users to see if they succeed in getting around the obstructions. Writing the wrong thing on the Internet can bring jail time.
"In Tunisia, citizens may be theoretically free to receive and share information, but they are practically prevented from doing so on a number of vital topics by a state that combines sophisticated American technology, harsh laws and informal pressures to limit access," according to the Open Net Initiative, a joint project of the University of Toronto, Harvard University and Cambridge University that seeks to uncover obstacles to Internet use.
The Tunisian government defends its policy on security and public morality grounds. Habib Cherif, the government's human rights coordinator, said restrictions are a defense against terrorism, violence and pornography. As for Abou's criticism, Cherif said "the law forbids slander of the magistrates. Justice must be protected."
"It's the law, and so it is applied," he added. Pressed on whether he, as the government's chief human rights watchdog, agrees with censorship of all such critical commentary, he replied, "Yes. It is appropriate for a country in transition."
Transition is a word often used by Tunisian officials when asked about restrictions on speech. The government prides itself on its relative openness, compared with its neighbors, Algeria, which experienced a vicious civil war in the 1990s, and Libya, which has been under the rule of Moammar Gaddafi for 37 years. Among Middle East countries, Tunisia stands out for its self-declared effort to model itself on European economic and political standards.
But compared with Egypt and Lebanon, countries with vibrant democracy movements, Tunisia looks retrograde. Ben Ali won his latest term in office with 94 percent of the vote against feeble opposition. Headlines from a variety of papers on a recent day featured the same message: lawyers in parliament had praised Ben Ali for his leadership, pursued with "conscience and sacrifice."


Click here to read the full article.

--Tom Hayes