A Tunisian online journalist arrested after publishing writings critical of the ruling regime is set to appear in court on Thursday, his lawyer said, marking the first trial of an online dissident in the north African country.
Zouhair Yahyaoui is set to be tried for “spreading false news with the aim of substantiating a punishable criminal act,” according to lawyer, Mokhtar Trifi, who also heads the Tunisian Human Rights League.
Yahyaoui, founder of the Tunezine web magazine, was arrested in a public cybercafe on June 4. If found guilty, he risks six months to five years in jail, plus a fine, said Trifi.
In July 2001, Yahyaoui used a pseudonym to publish an open letter from his uncle, the judge Mokhtar Yahyaoui, that challenged the independence of the country’s court system.
The judge was fired in January after using the letter to criticise the “total lack of independence” of the country’s courts and to protest government pressure on judges.
Yahyaoui (34) runs a satirical magazine that is inaccessible from the capital and that is highly critical of the government of President Zine el Abidine ben Ali.
Press freedom group Reporters Without Borders has protested Yahyaoui’s arrest and has requested his freedom.
The dissident “risks up to five years in prison simply for having published information on the Internet,” the group said.
International human rights organisations have long accused Tunisia of widespread human rights abuses, including the suppression of political and press freedoms. – AFP