Human Rights Watch (HRW) Deputy Director of the Middle East and North Africa Division Eric Goldstein said Tunisian authorities arbitrarily target media and critical voices.
This is what emerges from an article published on the NGO’s website, dated November 17, 2021, reporting that Al Jazeera journalists work in a garden at the National Union of Tunisian Journalists (SNJT), since closing of their office in Tunis.
“I first met Tunisian journalist Lotfi Hajji about fifteen years ago, after President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali’s authorities refused to grant him accreditation to become Al Jazeera’s local correspondent, the pan-Arab television channel funded by Qatar,” said Eric Goldstein.
The Deputy Director of the Middle East and North Africa division had, in fact, met journalist Lotfi Hajji while he was active in the Tunisian League for Human Rights (LTDH).
“I was happy to finally see Hajji on screen, ending his reporting with ‘Lotfi Hajji, Al Jazeera, Tunis’. This sentence ended a seven-year wait for accreditation,” he said. he indicates.
Tunisia has been going through a political crisis since July 25, when its president, Kaïs Saïed, adopted exceptional measures, including the freezing of the powers of Parliament, the lifting of the immunity of its deputies, the abolition of body for the control of the constitutionality of laws and the promulgation of laws by presidential decrees. The president also took the head of the prosecution, dismissed the prime minister and appointed a new government with Najla Bouden at its head.
Following the announcement of these measures, the security forces closed the Al Jazeera office in Tunis, confiscated their equipment and expelled staff members.
“With the television station banned from filming, Al Jazeera journalists then improvised a makeshift studio in front of the entrance to the National Union of Tunisian Journalists (SNJT). These measures also forced the station to broadcast images borrowed from ‘other channels, Hajji speaking there every day in person,” said Eric Goldstein.
According to him, “Saïed’s human rights record is certainly less serious than that of Ben Ali, but the arbitrary aspect of the violations is the same”.
Questioning Hajji, the latter said that no authority has explained, until now, the reasons for the closure.
“There is no court decision. No official will explain to us what we have done wrong, how long it will last, or who we can appeal to,” he added.
“Although reduced to working from a garden, Lotfi Hajji who is also the co-founder of the country’s first independent journalists’ union is still on the air. For now,” HRW reported.
Recall that the broadcasting materials and equipment of the Tunisian television channel ”Nessma” and the radio ”Al Quran- Al Karim” were seized a few weeks ago, by decision of the High Independent Authority of audiovisual communication (HAICA) which used the police to close and stop broadcasting the two media.
This seizure comes in application of a decision, taken on October 11, relating to the seizure of the broadcasting equipment of these two channels, described as “illegal”, transmitting their programs without a broadcasting license.
