Press freedom watchdog: Journalists in Tunisia under attack

The Tunis Center for Press Freedom (CTLP) has issued its monthly report on the violations against Tunisian journalists and media. April's report documented 26 separate attacks against media professionals, a total of 51 people, 19 women and 32 men.

The attacks affected reporters from eight different TV channels, including the Tunisia News Network and Hanibal TV, as well as 12 radio stations, including Shams FM and Radio Six. Among the affected media outlets were three newspapers, al-Chourouk, Tunisian Republic, and al-Sabah, two news websites Haqaiq online and Journalist Sfaxien, two news agencies, Anadolu and the Tunisian News Agency, and the Independent High Authority for Audio-visual Communication (HAICA).

During April, there were also 12 cases of work-related bans, five physical attacks, two lawsuits, two office attacks, two harassment cases, one detention and one case of surveillance.

Security authorities topped the list of those responsible with 12 attacks, followed by anonymous attackers and government employees with three attacks each. The attackers also include two citizens, supporters of a political party, the general prosecution, a regulatory committee, politicians, and the head pf government.

The attacks against journalists were mainly in the capital city of Tunis and the city of Kairouan, where there were seven cases, followed by three cases in Sfax, two cases in Gafsa, two cases in Beja, and one case in each of Kasserine, Sidi Bouzid, Nabeul, Monastir and Tataouine.

The report also focuses on the case of the two Tunisian journalists who had been held captive since they were kidnapped in Libya in September 2014, Sofian Chourabi and Nadhir Ktari. There have been conflicting reports on their fate.

This is an edited translation from our Arabic edition.