Tunisian authorities on Wednesday (February 15th) arrested the director of Tunisian newspaper Ettounsia, as well as an editor and reporter, for publishing a picture of Real Madrid midfielder Sami Khedira and his partially-nude girlfriend, AFP reported.
“Really, this is laughable,” a staff member of the Arabic-language daily said. “This photo has gone around the world and yet they stand accused of violating decency,” he said. The photo was widely shared Wednesday on Facebook.
This is the first case since the revolution that journalists in Tunisia have been arrested for the publication of the content they have published, Tunisia Live noted.
In related news Wednesday, the hearing of the case regarding censorship of pornographic websites in Tunisia was postponed until February 22nd, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Tunisia chapter head Olivia Gré told Tunisia Live.
Three Tunisian lawyers filed the lawsuit last year, claiming that free access to pornographic websites in Tunisia was dangerous to children and undermined Islamic values.
In a statement released on February 3rd, the RSF suggested that internet service providers offer parental control technology. The group argued that blocking pornographic websites could herald a return to the censorship practices of the Ben Ali regime.
Source – Magharebia
