North Africa under the press freedom spotlight

The repression of press freedom in North Africa will be highlighted in a new campaign by WIPC, the Writers in Prison Committee of international free expression group PEN.

The Francophone North Africa campaign will run from the 1-12 September and will focus on Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria where WIPC 'is deeply concerned about the continued repression of the freedom of expression of writers and journalists'.

Sara Birch, researcher for WIPC’s Francophone Africa department, told dotJournalism that the campaign is designed to raise awareness of what is happening in these countries.

"Many people in the UK will only know these countries as holiday destinations and will be quite shocked to find out what is going on," she said.

"A particular concern is the increased repression of journalists in the wake of September 11th. Anti-terrorism laws are being used to stifle opposition to the government."

On the first day of the campaign Eugene Schoulgin, the chair of International PEN, will send letters to the presidents of each of the three countries demanding that writers and journalists be allowed to work freely.

The letter also reminds each president that repression of free expression is a breach of Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to which they are party.

Over the course of the campaign, WIPC will urge supporters around the world to send further letters of protest to the Algerian, Tunisian and Moroccan embassies in their country.

Tunisian blogger and web journalist Zouhair Yahyaoui is just one case highlighted by the campaign. Mr Yahyaoui is now seriously ill in prison following a lengthy hunger strike in protest at his arrest and imprisonment in June 2002.

He was charged with 'circulating false information' and 'non-authorised use of the internet' for his blog and web site tunezine.com, which was launched in July 2001 to highlight issues of democracy and free speech within Tunisia.

Ms Birch recently spoke to Mr Yahyaoui's fiancée who said that he has seen a doctor but is being denied medication. Prison guards are also refusing to allow his family to pass high-energy drinks and medication to him.

"These governments are interested in international world opinion," said Ms Birch.

"Tunisia will host the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society in 2005 and it will be a major embarrassment to them if, at the same time, they have a journalist in prison for using the internet.

"They want to look as if they respect human rights, rather than using new legislation to clamp down on free expression."

See also:
http://www.internatpen.org/
http://www.journalism.co.uk/news/story571.html
http://www.cpj.org/attacks02/mideast02/tunisia.html
http://www.hrw.org/mideast/tunisia.php
http://www.rsf.org/country-43.php3?id_mot=103&Valider=OK

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