TUNISIAN GOV'T STEPPING UP ACTIONS AGAINST

C O N F I D E N T I A L TUNIS 000803

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/02/2019
TAGS: PHUM PGOV TS
SUBJECT: TUNISIAN GOV'T STEPPING UP ACTIONS AGAINST
INDEPENDENT MEDIA

REF: TUNIS 748

Classified By: Ambassador Gordon Gray for reasons 1.4 (b) and(d)


1. (C) Summary: Following a series of assaults at Tunis
Airport in early October (reftel),the last two weeks have
seen, according to civil society sources, further government
action against independent journalists. A journalist related
to poloff how he was briefly abducted, bound, and beaten
shortly after he had discussed on BBC radio the alleged
corruption of First Lady Leila Ben Ali, and another was
arrested on allegedly trumped up rape charges. A prominent
blogger critical of the government also described to us how
he was assaulted on the street in an attack also presumed in
activist circles to have been politically motivated, and the
managers of an unlicensed Internet radio station told us
police seized their equipment and padlocked the station's
doors. Another journalist known for his criticism of the
government was arrested and charged with "harming others on
the Internet" after he posted footage he had filmed of
environmental violations in an industrial zone. His trial
begins November 3. End summary.


2. (C) On October 28, Slim Boukhdir, a prominent independent
journalist known for his criticism of the Ben Ali government,
told civil society contacts he was seized by several
unidentified men. Boukhdir said he was blindfolded and bound
and forced into a car which took him to a park in downtown
Tunis. There, Boukhdir subsequently related to poloff, he
was beaten, verbally assaulted, and threatened with murder.
He was left without his shoes, wallet, or cell phone.
Boukhdir told poloff the assailants repeatedly warned him to
"leave the woman alone." Earlier in the day, Boukhdir had
given an interview to BBC Arabic radio in which he accused
First Lady Leila (Trabelsi) Ben Ali of corruption.



3. (C) On October 26, independent journalist Taoufiq Ben Brik
told poloff he was sitting in his parked car when a car
driven by an unidentified woman collided with his own.
According to Ben Brik, when he got out of the car to inspect
the damage, the woman driver began to scream, tear at her
clothes, and run away. Police shortly issued an arrest
warrant against Ben Brik on charges of attempted rape. Ben
Brik told poloff that he believed the incident had been
staged by the government in revenge for several articles
critical of the government he had posted the week before on
French websites. Before turning himself in to police on
October 29, he reached out by telephone to several western
diplomats to protest his innocence.


4. (C) Embassy contact Salah Fourti, manager of "Radio 6,"
an independent (and unlicensed) Internet radio station, told
poloff that on October 22, police with a search warrant
entered station offices. Fourti said police informed him
that his operation was illegal. (Note: Fourti applied for a
license several years ago but the GOT has still not given him
permission to run the station. End note.) Fourti told us
the police seized station computers and related equipment,
and sealed the doors with heavy duty padlocks.Embassy
officers had visited his station earlier in the week to
observe the on air "sit-in" he and colleagues were conducting
to protest the GOT's refusal to allow independent radio and
other media outlets to operate legally in the country.


5. (C) On October 20, independent journalist Zouhaier
Makhlouf was arrested by police on charges of "harming others
on the Internet," according to several civil society sources.
In mid-October, Makhlouf posted on the Internet footage he
and a colleague had filmed documenting environmental damage
and dangerous working conditions in an industrial district of
Nabeul, 50 miles south east of Tunis. Makhlouf's spouse
announced on October 22 that she was beginning a hunger
strike in protest of his arrest. Makhlouf has long been in
the government's cross-hairs as a contributor to an
independent news website (assabilonline.com) filled with
anti-Ben Ali content. Makhlouf has also often posted
material critical of the government on Facebook and YouTube.
His trial begins November 3 in Grombalia, 20 miles south of
Tunis.


6. (C) On October 15, Embassy contact and prominent blogger
Zied El-Heni told us he was beaten up by a plainclothes
attacker in the early evening when he was walking in a quiet
residential area of Carthage, northeast of Tunis' city
center. El-Heni said he had received two warnings from
colleagues that strangers had been asking about his
movements. El-Heni's blog, often filled with criticism of
the Ben Ali government, is regularly blocked by the
government, but he continuously reestablishes it at new URL
addresses.


7. (C) Both Fourti and El-Heni had met with DRL Office
Director Kay Mayfield during her mid-October visit to
Tunisia. However, El-Heni did not attribute the attack to
his contact with the USG. Instead he said he thought he was
receiving extra attention because he had used his blog to
announce that he had a copy of a new book published in Paris
highly critical of President Ben Ali's wife Leila Trabelsi
and offered to send the book to anyone interested.


8. (C) Discussing recent incidents with poloff, Fourti and
El-Heni each took their treatment in stride, having faced it
before. They said these acts will not stop them from
continuing to agitate for more press freedom. However,
Fourti said he was not sure how he will replace his internet
broadcasting equipment.



GRAY