Security Forces at the Forefront of Attacks on Journalists

May 3, 2021

The Tunisian Journalists Syndicate announced today, Monday, 03 May 2021, that it recorded 206 attacks on freedom of the press during a year, the highest rate in the last three years.

This came in a press conference called by the Syndicate, in which it presented its report for the year 2021 for freedom of press work, coinciding with the World Press Freedom Day, corresponding to May 3 annually.

The Most Aggressive Actors against the Press

Security officials and security unions occupied the first place in the list of attacks against journalists, on top of which are security unions, which prompted the Journalists Syndicate to include the Ministry of Interior at the top of the list of enemies of the press for the year 2021, as the attacks varied from assault with extreme violence to arbitrary detention without legality to intimidation, incitement, beatings, threats and defamation of journalists on the pages of security unions, in addition to preventing work and requesting licenses despite the recall of a professional press card.

Two instances of incitement against media organizations, namely Radio Mosaique and Al-Diwan Radio, were also recorded. Some journalists were called “atheists” and “left-wing enemies of Islam,” and an expiatory campaign was launched against human rights organizations and journalists, accusing them of agents.

The Presidency of the Government, Hisham El-Mechichi

From the second month of assuming its position, the Machichy government announced the attack against journalists, as it withdrew the draft law on freedom of audiovisual communication to clear the way for the Heart of Tunisia and the Dignity Coalition to pass an initiative to revise Decree 116 in accordance with the whims of political money lobbies and extremists.

The prime minister also refused to publish the framework agreement for journalists in the official flagship despite the administrative court’s decision. Rather, it increased in the depth of the crisis by pursuing a policy of intimidation until storming the headquarters of Tunisia Africa News Agency, attacking journalists and trying to appoint a head general manager close to Ennahda by force.

In addition to hitting the right of access to information through internal publications and central and regional official directives that conceal the data.

Dignity Coalition Bloc

The deputies of the Karama (dignity) Coalition issued attacks on journalists. Their deputies tried to pass an initiative to revise Decree 116, in order to control the HAIKA, subject it to party quotas and strike the sector.

The bloc’s attacks on the law through insults and hate speech were numerous, both through interventions in plenary sessions and through their pages.

In addition, several journalists were attacked, prevented from performing their work, restricted and intimidated. Deputy Yosri Al-Daly prevented journalists from keeping pace with the work of the Administrative Affairs Committee and the armed forces.

The High Number of Recorded Assaults

Regarding the general statistics of attacks, the Tunisian Journalists Syndicate recorded, during the period between May 1, 2020 and April 30, 2021, 204 attacks on 195 journalists.

This year, the highest rates of attacks on journalists and freedom of the press were recorded compared to the years 2020 and 2019, as in the same period of 2019, the Syndicate recorded 139 attacks, affecting 200 journalists.

The Syndicate recorded the highest rates of attacks on journalists during the first three months of 2021, as that period recorded 75 out of 204 attacks, or 37 percent of all attacks, and the great development of the number of attacks is due to the renewal of social mobility, the deepening of the Covid crisis 19 and the unity of political interactions during the period. The last, which was the biggest victims of journalists and photojournalists.

More than 194 journalists were subjected to many types of attacks during the period between May 1, 2020 and April 30, 2021.

The attacks were characterized by a social nature, as journalists were subjected to violence in groups during their coverage of the social movements that took place in the national arena or during their coverage of political conflict events inside and outside the Assembly of the Representatives of the People.

The march of the Ennahda movement that it organized on February 27, 2021, was the most dangerous for journalists, as it recorded the highest rates of attacks during the month, during which journalists were targeted on more than one occasion, and the first cases of harassment were recorded, and the Assembly of the Representatives of the People became an uncomfortable environment for journalists after successive attempts to restrict their field of work.