TUNISIAN JOURNALISTS FACE CHOICE BETWEEN

C O N F I D E N T I A L TUNIS 000064

SIPDIS

NEA/MAG (PATTERSON/HAYES); DRL (JOHNSTONE/KLARMAN)
DS/ICI/CI
LONDON AND PARIS FOR NEA WATCHER

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/27/2019
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL KDEM KPAO TS
SUBJECT: TUNISIAN JOURNALISTS FACE CHOICE BETWEEN
PRESERVING IDEALS OR PRESERVING THEMSELVES

REF: A. TUNIS 24

B. 08 TUNIS 1076

Classified By: Ambassador Robert F. Godec for reasons 1.4 (b)
and (d)

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Summary
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1. (C) Since the beginning of the year, several journalists
have reported that they are under increased pressure to toe
the party line because 2009 is a presidential election year
in Tunisia. Despite being faced with threats of physical
violence, incarceration or unemployment many journalists have
vowed to continue their work. A recent meeting in which one
such journalist tried to elicit information about official
corruption, however, was a reminder that some may have been
co-opted to act as GOT informants. End Summary.

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In This Corner...
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2. (C) On November 24, 2008 Radio Kalima reporter Faten
Hamdi was reportedly assaulted by security forces and
temporarily detained while attempting to cover a
student-organized protest. According to the National Center
for Freedom and Labor (CNLT),which is affiliated with Radio
Kalima, police officers offered Hamdi money or a military
position during her detention if she would collaborate with
them. Another Kalima employee, Sahbi Smara, was reportedly
approached by individuals with close ties to the GOT and
offered a position with one of the official newspapers on the
condition that he cooperate with the GOT. Shortly
afterwards, Smara accused CNLT spokesperson Sihem Bensidrine
of profiteering. According to CNLT member Omar Mestiri,
Smara also approached Hamdi a few days after she was
arrested, telling her that she could get a job with the
government-owned as-Sahafa newspaper if she left Kalima,
which has been unable to obtain official registration.


3. (C) Journalist Slim Boukhdhir told the Embassy that
beginning on January 19 his home was surrounded by security
forces. He added that police officers have been following
him whenever he left his home. Boukhdhir attributed the
increased police presence to his alerting Reporters Without
Borders (RWB) that the GOT had banned an issue of the Emirati
magazine Shabab Ashrin (Youth Twenty) because it carried an
article on the personal wealth of Arab leaders that included
information about President Ben Ali's finances. Boukhdhir
said that he was worried that the police would falsely claim
he had committed a crime and send him back to prison, but
maintained that nonetheless he would continue to advocate for
transparency and accountability in government. (Note:
Boukhdhir previously served seven months of a one year
sentence in 2008. He was convicted of insulting a police
officer, using foul language, and not presenting his national
ID card. The charges came shortly after Boukhdhir wrote
several articles accusing members of President Ben Ali's
extended family of corruption.)


4. (C) Radio Kalima Coordinator Dhafer Otay was held by
security forces for several hours on January 27. Police
reportedly warned Otay not to return to Kalima when they
released him. Otay was leaving the Kalima offices in the
company of Kalima journalist Marwa Rekik on January 27 when
he was arrested. According to Rekik, roughly 30 police
officers surrounded the building as they exited. Though
Rekik managed to re-enter the building, Otay was taken into
police custody. The incident took place the day after Radio
Kalima's first satellite broadcast on January 26. Since
then, security forces have impeded people from entering the
building, and Radio Kalima journalists started a sit-in on
January 28th in protest. The next day, security forces
reportedly threatened Mestiri with a knife. On January 30,
plainclothes policemen did not allow PolOff to enter the CNLT
building, but would not explain why. CNLT Secretary General
Abdelkader Ben Khemiss told PolOff that security forces
seized the CNLT's and Radio Kalima's equipment, including
their computers, the morning of January 30. Though the
officers claimed the seizure was by order of the Procurer of
the Republic, because they did not produce a copy of the
judgment, the CNLT does not believe this to be the case.


5. (C) On January 20, 156 journalists and technicians began
a sit-in at the government owned TV and radio station ERTT.
The sit-in ultimately lasted ten days. The protestors staged
the sit-in to protest unfair labor practices. According to
the Tunisian Labor Code, employees working by virtue of a
temporary contract have the right to become full-time
employees after four years (with the associated benefits),
unless they are fired in the interim. The journalists and
technicians complained that the station was illegally denying
them the right to become full-time employees after completing
four years. Some said they had been working via temporary
contracts at the station for more than a decade. Leaders
from the National Syndicate for Tunisian Journalists (SNJT)
delivered a letter on behalf of the workers to President Ben
Ali on January 27. The President subsequently ordered the
Minister of Communication to award full time status to 100 of
the protestors. The remaining 56 were told their cases would
be addressed in March.

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If You Can't Beat Them, Join Them?
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6. (C) PolOffs met with journalist Slim Cherif at his
request on January 28 to discuss his alleged harassment by
security forces. (Note: Cherif had also approached EmbOffs
in 2006 to report that he had been arrested and beaten by
security forces, following articles he had written about
official corruption. He used crutches and walked with
apparent difficulty for many weeks.) According to Cherif, he
authored the article about President Ben Ali that caused the
GOT to ban Shabab Ashrin. Cherif is a freelance journalist
who has been working on contract for the Ministry of
Information. In his portion of the Shabab Ashrin article, he
noted that though President Ben Ali's official income is
roughly 80,000 TD (US $57,142) per year, Forbes Magazine
estimates his net worth to be around US $5 billion. The
article implied that the President's net worth may have been
accumulated by less than legal means.


7. (C) Cherif said that security forces detained him for
approximately four hours on January 23. Among other things,
the officers asked him why he was writing about corruption,
noting that it was an election year and the government did
not want "problems." The police also reportedly asked him if
"foreign powers" had prompted him to write the article.
Cherif opined that the GOT would not apply obvious pressure
to avoid bad press during an election year, but he feared
that the Ministry would terminate his contract and then
prevent him from being hired elsewhere. After his run-in
with security forces, Cherif contacted several embassies and
Chebab Ashirin to alert them as to what had happened.


8. (C) At multiple points during the meeting, Cherif
attempted to start a conversation about President Ben Ali and
his family. First he noted that his job at the Ministry was
to monitor the content of the private television station
Hannibal (Ref A). Per Cherif, Ben Ali himself had asked for
a report on Hannibal. He added that the GOT wanted to
control the station, and had pressured Hannibal not to
rebroadcast an interview with Ambassador Godec, because the
Ambassador spoke about freedom of expression. Cherif
recalled that he once attempted to start a magazine himself,
and had tried to enlist the support of Ben Ali's son-in-law
Sakr El Matri to help him register his publication.
Ultimately, he did not receive the necessary permit, because
"the government doesn't want professional journalists running
magazines." He noted that Shabab Ashrin had previously
attempted to have him interview El Matri for a feature
article, but El Matri, after initially agreeing, declined.
In Cherif's opinion, El Matri is being groomed by Ben Ali and
the Trabelsis for a position of power, but the family wants
him to keep a low profile until the Tunisian elections are
over.


9. (C) Cherif repeatedly said that he would continue to
research issues relating to corruption, including by the
extended family of Ben Ali, and said he knew that the Embassy
was interested in the same issues. PolOffs replied that, in
general, the United States is interested in accountability
and good governance because they represent core values of the
United States and essential elements for economic prosperity.
Cherif attempted to engage PolOffs in specific allegations
of corruption, noting that members of the First Lady's
Trabelsi family are widely thought to have made private
agreements benefiting themselves as part of larger GOT
contracts awarding lucrative construction deals to Gulf
corporations. Cherif then went on to ask if the Embassy
would help him in his research and pass him information
relating to the Trabelsis and government corruption. PolOffs
brushed off the request and ended the meeting. Cherif said
he would keep the Embassy informed if police harassment
continues.

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Comment
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10. (C) Given the number of incidents involving journalists
during the last few weeks, the GOT seems to be making an
extra effort to prevent negative press from marring Ben Ali's
reelection campaign. As election day nears (likely in
October),incidents involving journalists and civil society
activists will probably increase. As for Cherif, none of the
information he provided was new. His behavior during the
meeting was a reminder of why many in the resident diplomatic
corps believe that he is either an informant or employee of
the Ministry of the Interior. He makes the habit of
attending, or if necessary crashing, diplomatic events and
asking questions that are more the hallmark of an agent
provocateur than a journalist. Although we will monitor his
situation, we plan no additional action. End Comment.
Godec