Human Rights Watch today called for the release of Zouhair Yahiaoui, who was arrested Tuesday in Tunis. The organization said it believes authorities arrested Yahiaoui because they had identified him as a writer and editor for the online publication Tunezine, which offers a platform for commentary critical of government repression.
As of Thursday afternoon, nearly 48 hours after Yahiaoui’s arrest, his family did not know where he was being held or the basis for his detention. Although Tunisian law requires that the police inform prosecutors of all arrests without delay, the office of the prosecutor in Ben Arous, the suburban jurisdiction where Yahiaoui lives and works, informed the family Wednesday it had no record of his arrest.
Yahiaoui, who hid his identity behind the pen name Ettounsi (“the Tunisian”), was arrested at 7 pm by six plainclothesmen in the Internet café where he worked. The police then took him to his home, where they reportedly conducted a search without a warrant and seized computer disks and equipment belonging to him. The police returned to Yahiaoui’s home on Thursday and questioned family members. The manager of the Internet café where he worked was also reportedly arrested.
Yahiaoui appears to be the first Tunisian arrested for exercising his right to freedom of expression online.
“Yahiaoui’s arrest seems to show both the government’s determination to punish criticism and to keep the Internet from becoming a refuge for free expression amidst a heavily censored print press,” said Hanny Megally, executive director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa division.
With both state-run and private newspapers under tight control, Tunisians have recently launched online journals such as Tunezine, Kalima, Takriz, and Alternatives Citoyennes that feature independent political views and criticism of human rights violations.
However, internet users in Tunisia are often unable to access these sites because they are blocked by the authorities. Internet use in Tunisia has grown rapidly over the last three years but remains under tight control.
The most recent issue of Tunezine featured several pieces criticizing as anti-democratic the constitutional referendum held on May 26. According to the official tally, 99.52 percent of Tunisian voters approved amendments that enable President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali to run for a fourth term in 2004 and grant him immunity from prosecution.
Yahiaoui, 34, is the nephew of Judge Mokhtar Yahiaoui, who was fired in 2001 after writing an open letter to President Ben Ali denouncing the lack of judicial independence in Tunisia. Today, authorities at Tunis-Carthage airport prevented, without explanation, Judge Yahiaoui from traveling to Paris to attend a conference. Critics of the government are frequently denied their right to travel.
