Tunisia- A few days ago, one of the opponents wrote that he was summoned to a political program on a radio, but he was surprised to delete the episode, which sparked the condemnation of the Tunisian Journalists Syndicate, and only days had passed until the program was closed permanently, which brought back to mind the image of the “bird in the cage” that President Qais Said pledged to “will not return.”
Exhibitions, former Minister of Employment, Fawzi Abdel Rahman, who in the canceled episode touched on the crisis economic and political situation, in light of the issuance of harsh elementary provisions on dozens of opponents, in what is known as the issue of conspiracy against state security or other issues.
In an attempt to absorb anger, the private radio, Jawhara FM, initially abolished the episode to a technical damage caused by electricity interruptions in its response to the Journalists Syndicate’s inquiry, before it announced the closure of the “Politica” program permanently under the pressure of power.
Besiege
This decision put an end to a 11 -year march for one of the few political programs that have been hosting voices opposing to go into political issues in the country, which was considered an additional reference to the retreat of the media in Tunisia, which has lived 4 years for the restrictions.
The Journalists Syndicate pointed to an unprecedented decline in freedom of expression since President Saeed announced the exceptional measures on July 25, 2021, in which the country ruled “with a strong fist”, considering that this path emptied freedom of expression of its content, and led to besiege free votes.
Since that time, all the platforms that were broadcast on private channels and radios have gradually closed, after they touched on sensitive political files such as trial issues, human rights violations and the conditions of migrants from sub -Saharan countries, as well as the deteriorating economic and social conditions.
In addition, public media observers (channels, broadcasts, journalism and news agency) accuse the presidential platform, especially after the appointment of its officials under the direct supervision of the authority, in light of a systematic marginalization of the violating voices and the absence of pluralism in coverage and subtraction.
The financial fragility also weakened the independence of the private media, so major institutions chose to abandon political programs in their main programs, at a time when a number of journalists resorted to cultural and artistic content to avoid prosecution or the currently escalating self -control pressures.
Pursuing journalists
Journalist Ziad Al -Hani says that the authority was fed up with free media platforms, after its failure to manage the affairs of the country, so she resorted to strangling independent voices with an arsenal of restraining legislation, headed by Decree 54, and even extended to the employment of the terrorism law to pursue journalists and silence mouths.
Al -Hani invokes an experience he lived on a private radio, where he was working within a team that includes the lawyer and media Sunni Al -Dahmani, the journalist Murad Al -Zoghidi, and Lt. Col. Burhan Bseis, all of them today in prison against the background of their press activities and touched them on the President’s policies.
He assures Al -Jazeera Net, that he had to withdraw from the program after pressure on the radio owner, and reached the end of the authority to cut off the broadcast permanently.
He also narrates his experience on the “Carthage+” channel, from which only four episodes were broadcast, before the program was stopped after an episode in which the lawyer hosted Dalila Mossadegh, who said that she presented documents refuting the official account on what is known as the issue of conspiracy against state security, which Al -Hani considered a major reason for silence the program.
Al -Hani notes that he is currently pursued in four cases, one of which is before the criminal department specialized in terrorism cases, against the backdrop of his journalistic work, while pending the appointment of a session to try him. Note that it was previously sentenced to 6 months in prison.
He says that the authority only believes in its single voice, and that the president avoids the media completely, contented with an official orphan page that publishes his activities late at night to escape accountability.
Systematic closure
For his part, Riyad Al -Shuaibi, the opposition activist and leader of the Renaissance movement, confirms that the authority has adopted since July 25, 2021 systematic policies to close all free media spaces, noting that the decision to close the “Politica” program represented the culmination of the struggle of the media freedom in Tunisia.
He considers that the current political project “does not believe, neither freedom nor democracy”, and seeks to silence every violation voice, which explains the campaign on the platforms that open the way for political debate or give an opportunity to oppose to express its views.
He adds to Al -Jazeera Net, that what was considered in the previous dictatorial system before 2011 is an acceptable margin of freedom of expression, such as opposition newspapers or some bold programs, was completely aborted today, as all independent media spaces became either closed, prohibited or besieged.
Al -Shuaibi also denounced what he considered to employ public media as a trumpet for propaganda in one direction, saying that “the current authority does not return only, but rather trying to drag the country to before the regime of former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali”, where there is no voice that is heard except what the regime repeats, amid complete absenteeism of any accountability or diversity of opinions.
On the other hand, President Qais Saeed confirms on more than one occasion that freedom of expression is guaranteed in Tunisia and is included in the constitution of 2022, stressing that “the bird will not return to the cage,” which was inspired by a banner raised by a young man after the revolution during protests to demand freedom.
Said considers, according to his official statements, that freedom of the press is esophagus, but it is not possible to take a ride to commit crimes that affect the dignity of people, their symptoms, or the promotion of false data without evidence. And he confirms that the law applies to everyone without exception, and that whoever represents before the judiciary is not tried because of his views.
His supporters also argue that a number of issues raised against journalists related to financial or criminal aspects or contents considered a spa, a lament and their distortion is intended, which in their view is a transgression of the limits of freedom of expression. They stress that the judiciary alone is authorized to consider these cases, away from any political intervention or media pressure.