On April 8 Anonymous Tunisia (which claims affiliation with the hacking group Anonymous [1]) hacked [2] the emails of the Tunisian prime minister Hamadi Jebali [3]. The movement dubbed it “Operation Touche pas à ma Tunise” (“Get Your Hands Off My Tunisia”) which is part of the broader “Operation Tunisia Back”.
[4]Anonymous Tunisia logo
On the eve of the revolution in 2011 Anonymous members worldwide targeted several governmental websites in what was known as Operation Tunisia [5]. Anonymous also recently [6] launched online attacks against Tunisian Islamists. Now it has published 2,725 emails [7] of Tunisia's ruling Ennahda party online [8], including emails of the prime minister.
Phone numbers [9] belonging to key government officials have since been circulating on Facebook pages. The government was caught by surprise and so far has not reacted. Meanwhile, netizens have been divided over the efficacy of the move.
Bassem Meddeb tweeted enthusiastically about the search through thousands of emails:
@bmeddeb [10]: Finalement #Anonymous nous a engagé comme détectives! #jbelileaks
Hmida Ben Jemmaa wrote mockingly:
@HBJtn [11]: Après le #JbeliLeaks, le bureau politique d'Ennahdha décide de correspondre avec des… pigeons voyageurs.
[12]Operation Tunisia Back logo
However, some Twitter users opposed the hacking operation.
Hmida Ben Jemmaa wrote that he condemned the attack, and added [13]:
Medical student Amine Ghrabi questioned the point of the Anonymous operation and tweeted:
@HendrixTN [14]: Petite pensée à tous ceux qui ont gâché leur matinée dominicale à fouiller la boite mail d'un incompétent confirmé ! #JbeliLeaks
Alkimia tweeted:
And added:
@alkimia5550 [15]: Anonymous a menacé les Islamistes depuis qq mois.Il ne serait pas malin s'il n'a pas nettoyé
Student Imed Laaridh, a supporter of Ennahda, tweeted that he would strike back:
@ImedLaaridh [16]: On est peut être parti pour un tour de piratage réciproque. On trouvera de quoi passer le temps.. #TnPolitics #JbeliLeaks
The following video [Fr] is from Anonymous Tunisia. A member of Anonymous speaks about the leak of the prime minister's emails, and the forthcoming release of more documents: