[IRP] Slim Amamou (and other bloggers) arrested in Tunisia

[Meryem Marzouki]

Dear all,

You've probably heard about the situation in Tunisia, with street  
demonstrations, strikes and other actions following events in the  
city of Sidi Bouzid since mid-December, when a young unemployed men  
selling goods in the streets immolate himself after the police seized  
his goods. He recently died. These protests and of course this  
desperate act, are a consequence of corruption and very high level of  
unemployment, especially for young people including highly educated  
people, in the country.

The Tunisian authorities exercizes severe repression against  
protesters, and has intensified the censorship of the press and any  
independent reporting and the targetting of any dissenting voice. In  
particular, Slim Amamou - who recently participated to our  
discussions on the IRP list, that's why I'm especially mentioning  
him  - and other bloggers have been arrested, and there are no news  
about their situation, except that Slim was detained at the ministry  
of Interior headquarters.

Information in English may be found at: http:// 
globalvoicesonline.org/-/world/middle-east-north-africa/tunisia/ and  
at: http://fr.readwriteweb.com/2011/01/07/divers/blogueur-slim-amamou- 
auteur-sur-readwriteweb-arrt-en-tunisie-sidibouzid/? 
utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A 
+readwriteweb-france+%28ReadWriteWeb+France%29 (the latter article is  
in French, but there are some comments in English at the bottom of  
the page).

There is also an audio interview in English, including an interview  
of Slim - of course before his arrest - at: http://media.theworld.org/ 
audio/010620118.mp3 (interview by Clark Boyd,BBC correspondent in  
Brussels,published on 6 January).

Wanted to let you know...

Best,
Meryem