Here's yet another piece forwarded by Jocelyn... I'm crashed totally - having been just a few miles from the site and unaware of what was happening until one of the last days in Tunisia...

PRESS RELEASE
November 14, 2005
Posted to the web November 15, 2005

Article 19/IFEX
The following press release has been distributed by ARTICLE 19 on behalf of
the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Civil Society's Media
Caucus:

Civil Society's Media Caucus at WSIS expresses its indignation over a series
of incidents in which Tunisian authorities have hampered the freedom of
expression of journalists and their freedom of association as well as that
of others attending the Tunis phase of the World Summit on the Information
Society.

In addition to problems involving denial of entry to Tunisia; the following
incidents have occurred in the days preceding the summit:

Christophe Boltanski, a correspondent for the Paris daily newspaper
'Lib?ration', was beaten and stabbed and had his personal effects stolen
near his hotel in the embassy district. When he cried for help, guards
standing outside a nearby embassy did not intervene. The attack took place a
day after Lib?ration published Boltanski's report about clashes between
police and activists protesting in support of seven hunger strikers
campaigning for the release of political prisoners in Tunisia.

Representatives of Tunisian and foreign media and human rights organisations
were prevented by a large number of Tunisian plainclothes police from
entering the Goethe Institute, the cultural centre of the German Embassy in
Tunis, for a meeting to plan events parallel to the Summit.

A Belgian television cameraman approaching the Institute had his camera
seized by plainclothes police who forced themselves into the TV crew's
vehicle. The camera was only returned after the film cassette had been
confiscated. The police stated that no pictures may be taken in Tunisia
without prior official authorisation and prevented another reporter from
taking photographs of the incident. A Tunisian journalist approaching the
site was beaten by police.

Various websites which have contained criticism of Tunisia are available to
the delegates at the official WSIS venue, but remain blocked and censored in
the rest of Tunisia.

Such incidents call into question the seriousness of the Tunisian government
to allow full freedom of expression and association at the WSIS.

The incidents show that prior concerns about the observance of human rights
in Tunisia have been justified, underlining the widespread nature of
official abuses in the country.

They also illustrate that concerns about holding a United Nations Summit
dealing with communication and freedom of expression in such a country were
justified.

To correct the situation the Tunisian government and the International
Communication Union as the relevant UN authority organising the summit,
must:

- Guarantee equal right to access information via the internet both within
and outside of the summit site.

- Guarantee that all journalists have the right to freely report in Tunisia,
without fear or intimidation.

- Guarantee that the international media and summit delegates have the right
to free movement and to meet with colleagues in the Tunisian media and civil
society, outside of the official summit site, without threats or
intimidation from the police or government authorities.

- Ensure that Tunisian journalists and civil society members meeting with
the international community are not subject to retribution and that free
speech, press freedom and other human rights are respected in Tunisia after
Summit delegates have gone home.

Given the above incidents and the overall poor human rights record of
Tunisia it seems to us that the UN system has contracted a moral obligation
to follow up. It should name a special rapporteur to monitor freedom of
expression and other human rights in Tunisia.