[IRP] [Expression] Update on Censorship in Tunisia

Fri Jan 14 23:18:30 EET 2011

According to NY Times, President has left Tunisia, Prime Minister is in 'charge.' 

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/15/world/africa/15tunis.html?hp

________________________________________
From: Lisa Horner [LisaH at global-partners.co.uk]
Sent: Friday, January 14, 2011 4:11 PM
To: Lee W McKnight; hatem zidi; Ben Wagner
Cc: Expression IPjustice; IRP
Subject: RE: [IRP] [Expression] Update on Censorship in Tunisia

Hi all

This is indeed good and relieving news - thanks to everyone who's been keeping us updated.  I'm just wondering why has there been such a sudden and dramatic U-turn on the part of the government?  Any information from those on the ground with better insight into the dynamics at play here would be much appreciated.

All the best,
Lisa

________________________________________
From: irp-bounces at lists.internetrightsandprinciples.org [irp-bounces at lists.internetrightsandprinciples.org] On Behalf Of Lee W McKnight [lmcknigh at syr.edu]
Sent: 14 January 2011 14:29
To: hatem zidi; Ben Wagner
Cc: Expression IPjustice; IRP
Subject: Re: [IRP] [Expression] Update on Censorship in Tunisia

Hatem,

Great to hear.

We all have our fingers crossed for you, Slim, and everyone too.

The optimist in me feels this may be more than a small step and may echo well beyond Tunisia.

The realist...says hang in there.

Lee McKnight
________________________________________
From: irp-bounces at lists.internetrightsandprinciples.org [irp-bounces at lists.internetrightsandprinciples.org] On Behalf Of hatem zidi [hatem.zidi at gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 13, 2011 4:12 PM
To: Ben Wagner
Cc: Expression IPjustice; IRP
Subject: Re: [IRP] [Expression] Update on Censorship in Tunisia

hey all

i am leaving in tunisia and i want to confirm that most of the
censored sites are now accessible freely after the last presidential
speech.

the historical pro-state first channel is showing actually a debat
show where -as a tunisian- we are hearing many taboo subjects in the
discussion (free expression, freedom of media, internet censorship ..)

another happy news is that our friends slim amamou and and azyz amamya
are now free and they will be home tomorrow morning.
we were able to contact them and now that they are in good shape

a little step for human rights and a lot of promises ... however, we
keep our fingers crossed

have a nice day
--
hatem zidi
open source expert & integrator
http://about.me/hatemzidi

On Thu, Jan 13, 2011 at 22:03, Ben Wagner <b at nwagner.org> wrote:
> Dear all,
>
> following the lively debate on both lists regarding the current situation in Tunisia, I though the following developments might be of interest. A few hours ago the Tunisian President went on national state television to proclaim a variety of far-reaching changes, among them the end of Internet censorship.
>
> Since this speech I have received a variety of reports from friends and colleagues in Tunisia that many sites that were previously blocked have been unblocked in the last few hours, most notably Youtube. I would be interested to hear whether anyone else can confirm this.
>
> Of course, these 'promises' do little to change the massive human rights violations that have taken place recently in Tunisia. Rather they are are a sign of the massive pressure the regime is currently under.
>
> Best,
> Ben
>
>
> On 11 Jan 2011, at 19:56, Michael Gurstein wrote:
>
>> There is very little coverage in Canada that I can see or in the US media
>> which also have access to via cable... In the US its wall to wall Giffords.
>>
>> M
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: irp-bounces at lists.internetrightsandprinciples.org
>> [mailto:irp-bounces at lists.internetrightsandprinciples.org] On Behalf Of M I
>> Franklin
>> Sent: Tuesday, January 11, 2011 9:02 AM
>> To: Meryem Marzouki; Expression IPjustice; IRP
>> Subject: Re: [IRP] [Expression] Slim Amamou (and other bloggers) arrested in
>> Tunisia
>>
>>
>> Dear All,
>>
>> Thanks Meryem, Walid, and Hatem for this additional info.
>>
>> FYI, the events are being covered by the BBC (general news) and Dutch
>> national TV and online/print newspapers(steady and regular). I also saw a
>> French (TV5) roundtable on their regular media/journo. show (the 'Kiosk') ;
>> mainstream news media taking an interest here.
>>
>> Is this the case elsewhere?
>>
>> best
>> MF
>>
>> --On Tuesday, January 11, 2011 17:40 +0100 Meryem Marzouki
>> <meryem at marzouki.info> wrote:
>>
>>> Thanks Walid and Hatem for these updates. This, in itself, shows the
>>> level of disinformation due to the censorship and now to the bloody
>>> repression. It seemed from an interview of a member of the Tunisian
>>> pirate party published yesterday by Le Monde that only Azyz Amami was
>>> still retained (in French: http://www.lemonde.fr/technologies/article/
>>> 2011/01/10/les-tunisiens-osent-enfin-parler-entre-eux-et-cela-aucune-
>>> censure-ne-l-arretera_1463210_651865.html#ens_id=1289018).
>>>
>>> It's good to know that Slim and others seem physically safe, but one
>>> obviously fears that the charges will be very serious: it's likely
>>> that the governement will accuse them for the cyber-attacks against
>>> official website, which would probably be qualified as "terrorist
>>> acts".
>>>
>>> In the mean time, the number of deaths is dramatically increasing.
>>>
>>> Meryem
>>>
>>> Le 11 janv. 11 ? 16:54, hatem zidi a ?crit :
>>>
>>>> dear all
>>>>
>>>> i have the information that slim's family just visited him and his in
>>>> good shape and they confirm that he wasn't tortured or mistreated.
>>>>
>>>> we are still waiting for the official confirmation about the charges
>>>> against him
>>>>
>>>> have a nice day
>>>> --
>>>> hatem zidi
>>>> open source expert & integrator
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Tue, Jan 11, 2011 at 13:01, Walid Al-Saqaf <admin at alkasir.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>> Dear Meryem & friends,
>>>>>
>>>>> It appears that Slim and the others are still in detention. A friend
>>>>> from Tunisia here in the Cairo event just told me that this
>>>>> information is just
>>>>> to introduce the news about their trial. Just thought you should
>>>>> know.,.
>>>>>
>>>>> Sincerely,
>>>>>
>>>>> Walid
>>>>>
>>>>> -----------------
>>>>>
>>>>> Walid Al-Saqaf
>>>>> Founder & Administrator
>>>>> alkasir for mapping and circumventing cyber censorship
>>>>> https://alkasir.com
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On Sun, Jan 9, 2011 at 7:29 PM, Meryem Marzouki
>>>>> <meryem at marzouki.info>
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Hi all,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Update: It seems, but this still needs firm confirmation, that Slim
>>>>>> and some other bloggers (and a rapper) are now free. The bad news
>>>>>> is that the
>>>>>> police and/or the army have been shooting people in some Tunisian
>>>>>> cities.
>>>>>> There are deaths.
>>>>>> Meryem
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Le 7 janv. 11 ? 16:27, Meryem Marzouki a ?crit :
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> 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
>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>>> IRP mailing list IRP at lists.internetrightsandprinciples.org
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> http://lists.internetrightsandprinciples.org/listinfo.cgi/irp-
>>>>>>> internetrightsandprinciples.org
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
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>> Reader
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