2001: Sihem Bensedrine

2001

Sihem Bensedrine - Tunisia

Arrested, Harassed

Sihem Bensedrine, born in October 1950, is a Tunisian journalist and human rights activist. She studied philosophy at university in Toulouse and has been working as a journalist since 1980, reporting for independent journals and overseeing the opposition newspaper in Tunisia, El Mawkif. She is the co-founder and editor of the on-line magazine Kalima, which has been banned in Tunisia since its inception in 2000. Benesdrine is a founding member and secretary general of the Observatory for Defence of Freedom of the Press, Publishing and Creation (OLPEC), which promotes freedom of the press, and the head of the Conseil National pour les Libertés en Tunisie (the National Council for Freedom in Tunisia). She is also General Secretary of the Tunisian PEN Centre.

Bensedrine has suffered constant persecution by the Tunisian authorities over many years. She has been subjected to harassment and police surveillance and has suffered severe beatings at the hands of the police. From 1999, she and her businesses have been subject to numerous police and judicial actions, including confiscation and destruction of property and a personal libel campaign in which she was portrayed as a prostitute, because of her freedom of the press and human rights activities.

Attacks against Bensedrine include, in the summer of 2001, imprisonment for six weeks on charges of "defamation" and broadcasting "false news" for appearing in a London based Arabic TV station in an interview in which she discussed corruption in Tunisia. In January 2004, Bensedrine was attacked in Paris as she was going to an internet café. She reports that she was beaten and insulted by three men in the street. Bensedrine claimed that Tunisian police were behind the assault. Most recently, on 18 June 2008, she was stopped at the Tunisian-Algerian border while on their way to an event in Algeria to promote freedom of expression in the region. She was interrogated for approximately two and a half hours before being released. No reasons were given for their interrogation. She was beaten and the documents and personal belongings she was carrying were confiscated by the police. Bensedrine suffered a sprained wrist and an injury to her elbow as a result of the assault. Then, in October 2009 plainclothes police again roughed up and prevented her from taking part in a workshop concerning coverage of the election campaign.

The online magazine Kalima was originally intended to be an independent newspaper but Bensedrine was unable to obtain permission to publish Kalima in Tunisia, so she decided to publish it as an online magazine. The first edition appeared in October 2004, however, the website is blocked by the Tunisian authorities within Tunisia and so can only be accessed outside the country.

In 2004, Bensedrine was honoured by Canadian Journalists for Free Expression with an International Press Freedom Award in recognition of her courage in defending and promoting press freedom. In 2008, Bensedrine received The Danish Peace Fund Prize as an acknowledgement of her unyielding commitment to the cause of democracy and rule of a law in her home country and for her efforts to organize networks among human rights activist in the Arab world.

Writing Sample:

Monsieur le président;

Vous avez mal gouverné la Tunisie durant plus de vingt ans et vous venez de vous octroyer cinq autres années de pouvoir absolu sur nos vies et notre avenir. Votre règne reste aux yeux des Tunisiens celui de l'injustice, des atteintes à la dignité du citoyen, du népotisme, du développement de la corruption et de la dilapidation des ressources humaines et matérielles de notre pays.

La Tunisie va aujourd'hui à la dérive, menée par on ne sait quelle force occulte face à un Etat absent et marginalisé.

Vous vous êtes affranchi de cette morale tacite qui faisait qu'en Tunisie les puissants ne pouvaient pas être trop puissants et les pauvres trop misérables, générant ainsi une forte classe moyenne et faisant de la Tunisie un pays prospère et équilibré. Votre régime qui tablait sur le «consommez et taisez-vous», a rompu ce deal et permis tous les excès, plongeant de larges franges de cette classe moyenne dans le dénuement et favorisant l'enrichissement illicite de quelques bénéficiaires du clientélisme d'Etat. La rébellion du bassin minier n'est, au bout du compte, qu'une saine réaction symptomatique de ce naufrage qui n'a épargné aucun secteur de l'économie.

Cette politique prédatrice a inexorablement entaché les acquis qui faisaient la fierté des Tunisiens.

Nos universités et nos écoles qui soutenaient la concurrence avec nombre d'institutions européennes ont périclité sous l'effet du nivellement par le bas et la marginalisation des compétences insoumises.

Nos hôpitaux et structures de soins tombent en ruines et les cadres performants sont découragés.

Nos institutions républicaines ont été dévoyées et la Justice est désormais un lieu où le droit se vend et s'achète, réduite à une annexe de la police politique qui lui dicte des « injonctions ». Les juges intègres qui résistent encore à cette dégénérescence sont marginalisés et sanctionnés.

Le parlement nommé par vos services à l'issue d'une farce électorale est devenu une machine à produire des lois vidées de tout sens du droit.
Notre presse est naufragée par l'action conjuguée de la censure et de cette « presse-poubelle » qui pollue l'espace médiatique et déprave ses mœurs.
Les compétences fuient le pays comme on fuie une jungle qu'aucun droit ne régule.

Published on Kalima website