A Kuwaiti man was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Monday after being convicted of endangering state security as a result of messages he sent on Twitter. The judge found Hamad al-Naqi guilty of insulting the prophet Muhammad and Islam, and insulting the rulers of neighbouring Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Al-Naqi pleaded innocent at the start of the trial last month, saying his Twitter account had been hacked and he had not posted the messages.
Nawaat journalist and activist Ramzi Bettaib (aka “Winston Smith”) has now entered his fifth day on hunger strike.
Bettaieb is protesting against confiscation of his cameras as he tried to cover trials at the Military Tribunal of El Kef in the investigation of the murder of protesters during the 2011 Tunisian revolution — often dubbed the Martyrs’ Case. An army commandant at the tribunal accused him of collaborating with “foreign forces”.
Journalists are allowed to film for only three minutes during court hearings. Bettaieb told Le Courrier de l’Atlas that he feels “frustrated and revolted” by the rule. He began his hunger strike in order to push military authorities to allow journalists and activists to cover legal proceedings in the case “without any restrictions”.
“The Tunisian people have the right to know the truth”, he added.
The Tunisian uprising claimed the lives of more than three hundred persons, most of them protesters calling for socio-economic and political reforms. The Martyrs’ case was transferred to the Military Justice, often blamed for its lack of transparency, and its slow pace of investigation. So far no high-ranking officials have been convicted in the killings.
Houcem Hajlaoui, another Nawaat journalist, and Yassine Ayari, a blogger, have both gone on hunger strike in support of Bettaieb.
“Houcem Hajlaoui and I, we are on our second day of hunger strike. We will stand by Ramzi, and we will follow whatever he does, or decides till the end” said Yassine Ayari today.
Anonymous political cartoonist _Z_ has contributed with his art to Bettaieb’s cause. He drew a cartoon where Rachid Ammar, the Chief of Staff of the Tunisian Armed Forces is depicted as a puppeteer. In one hand, he holds a judge, in the other a police officer, his eyes are fixed on Ramzi Bettaieb and his camera.
In a blog post today, _Z_ wrote:
“My friends, this is another battle for a new State philosophy, a philosophy whereby censorship, lack of transparency, and repugnance for citizens and all the defects which have been poisoning Tunisia disappear once and for all and join ZABA (a nickname given to former Dictator Zeine el-Abidin Ben Ali) in Saudi Arabia. Let’s support Wisnton against Big Brother!”
A journalist critical of the proposed union between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia has been arrested in Manama. Freelance journalist Ahmed Radhi was arrested on Wednesday (16 May), after he appeared on an interview on BBC Arabic Radio, and suggested that the union would justify the presence of Saudi troops in Bahrain. Security forces raided Radhi’s house at 4am in the morning, after the journalist reposted his comments on social media networks. His whereabouts are currently unknown.
How does lobbying affect free speech? Index on Censorship’s Head of Advocacy Michael Harris explains