In Tunisia, dozens of journalists demonstrated Thursday, May 5 in Tunis at the call of their union and other associations. Many denounce the regression of press freedom in the country, which earned it a 21-place downgrade in Reporters Without Borders’ annual ranking of the state of press freedom and freedom of expression in 2022. Tunisia now ranks 94th out of 180 countries.
With our correspondent in Tunis, Lilia Blaise
” Free journalists, the police state, it’s over “: these are the slogans that journalists shouted in front of their union on Thursday, before starting a march to the emblematic avenue Bourguiba.
Souhaib Khayati, director of the North Africa office of Reporters Without Borders, explains their anger: Freedom of the press and freedom of information in Tunisia have always been touted as an achievement and the most immediate achievement of the Tunisian revolution, but in fact, since the adoption of decree laws 115 and 116, which recognized Tunisian journalists their right to inform and to exercise their profession with relative independence and freedom of action, there has been no progress. »
Arrests, trialssummonses before military tribunals and resurgence of certain political pressures… Khaoula Sliti, journalist at the private radio station Shems FM recounts the daily life of her colleagues:
” Under the reign of the Troika in 2011, we were caught in the bipolarization around the religious question. Now, as a journalist, we are accused of not being patriotic enough if we are critical. This is a real danger for us, because we receive insults on a daily basis. »
According to the president and spokesman of the journalists’ union, Mahdi Jelassi, this decline in freedoms does not date from July 25, the date of the seizure of power by Kaïs Saïed. But today, more than ever, professionals in the sector fear a deterioration of the situation due to a lack of communication with the authorities.
► To see to listen too: Christophe Deloire (RSF): “What was left of independent journalism was extinguished by Putin”