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Tunisia: Facebook Case Thrown Out of Court

Categories: Middle East & North Africa, Tunisia, Digital Activism, Freedom of Speech, Law, Technology

A Tunisian court threw out a case [1] against the censorship facing Facebook, brought [2] about by blogger and journalist Ziad El Heni against the Tunisian Internet Agency [3] (ATI).

Writing in Arabic, Journaliste Tunisien [1], who lodged the case, reports that:

أصدرت الدائرة الثالثة بمحكمة ناحية تونس برئاسة السيدة وريدة الغربي حكمها برفض الدعوى المرفوعة ضد الوكالة التونسية للانترنت بسبب حجبها موقع “فايس بوك” الاجتماعي العالمي.
الحكم الصادر في القضية عدد 68787 بتاريخ 25 نوفمبر 2008 الجاري، التي رفعتها ضدّ “عمّــار 404″ احتجاجا على عمليّات الحجب غير القانوني، لم يتضمّـن أيّ تعليل؟
The Third District Court in Tunisia, presided by Judge Ruwaida Al Gharbi, dismissed the case brought against the ATI [3] for blocking the social networking site Facebook.

The ruling in case number 68787 on November 25, 2008, which I lodged in protest against the illegal censorship, did not include any explanations.

This verdict was made after the trial [4] was postponed three times. The plaintiff was also asked to pay all the costs the civil proceedings entailed.

Despite this setback, Tunisian Facebookers and bloggers won their union against censorship [5] and their national day for the freedom of blogging [4].