BBC News | MIDDLE EAST | Journalist trial resumes in Tunis

By the BBC's Nick Pelham in Tunis

The trial has resumed in the Tunisian capital, Tunis, of the journalist Taoufiq Ben Brik.

Mr Ben Brik is accused of publishing false information and offending public institutions in his reports for two European newspapers, La Tribune de Geneve and le Courier.

Mr Ben Brik has been on hunger strike for eight days in protest at what he says is the violation of his right to free speech.

If convicted, he faces up to nine years in prison.

A small assembly of supporters accompanied Mr Ben Brik to the courtroom doors, but the trial is closed and diplomats were refused entry.

The telephone line of Mr Ben Brik's lawyer has also been cut, and her passport removed.

International protests

International human rights watchdogs have issued strong public protests.

But the authorities respond that Tunisia's human rights record is better than other states in North Africa, where people have disappeared in their thousands.

The Tunisian president is regarded as an enemy of the press
Last November, Tunisia released hundreds of Islamists, many detained since the early 1990s, and President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali has called for an end to self-censorship.

But Tunisia's press is not reporting the trial of Mr Ben Brik, and the New York-based committee for the protection of journalists has described the Tunisian President as one of the world's top ten enemies of the press.

Inside Tunisia, open criticism has so far been limited to a few human rights activists - but there are signs that could be changing.

There is widespread anger on the streets at the authorities' handling on Saturday of a funeral of Tunisia's founding father, Habib Bourguiba, who was ousted by the current president 13 years ago.

The authorities say the restricted coverage was due to a technical failure.

But Tunisians grumble that, while football matches are broadcast live on television, the emotional funeral of Tunisia's greatest citizen of the 20th century was not.


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