Journalist sentenced to a year in prison on trumped-up charges

Reporters Without Borders is stunned by the one-year prison sentence imposed today on journalist Slim Boukhdir by a district court in Sakiet Ezzit, a suburb of Sfax (230 km south of Tunis) on charges of insulting behaviour towards an official, affront to public decency and refusing to produce his identity papers. Boukhdir has been in custody ever since police arrested him on the outskirts of Sfax on the morning of 26 November while checking the ID papers of passengers in a collective taxi bound for Tunis. “Tunisian journalists are often jailed on grounds unrelated to their work so that the authorities cannot be accused of censorship,” the press freedom organisation said. “But no one is fooled. Boukhdir is paying the price for being outspoken. Banned from working for the government newspaper that used to employ him and harassed by the police, Boukhdir has never stopped covering the human rights violations committed under President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali.” Reporters Without Borders added: “We appeal to foreign diplomats in Tunisia to openly express their support for Boukhdir as quickly as possible or else his sentence will be confirmed on appeal and he will have to stay in jail. The hope of an improvement in press freedom that followed the release of human rights lawyer Mohammed Abbou in July has evaporated.” At the end of today's trial, judge Hatem Ouerda sentenced Boukhdir to eight months in prison for “insulting behaviour towards an official in the exercise of his duty,” four months in prison for “affront to public decency” and five dinars (2.8 euros) for “refusing to produce his identity papers.” His lawyer, Radia Nasraoui, told Reporters Without Borders the trial was marred by “procedural irregularities.” The judge refused to listen to the defence's arguments and let two witnesses - the collective taxi driver and one of the passengers - testify without taking an oath, she said. The judge in charge of the case refused to release Boukhdir on bail the day after his arrest, and now he will have to remain in detention until his appeal is heard. Aged 39, Boukhdir is the correspondent of the London-based, pan-Arab newspaper Al Quds Al Arabi and the website of the satellite TV station Al-Arabiya. He also writes for other websites such as Tunisnews and Kantara. President Ben Ali is on the Reporters Without Borders list of the world's 34 worst press freedom predators. One the same subject: 28.11.2007 - Judge orders journalist detained until trial