Tunisia: Protesting the Military’s Lack of Transparency  and Censorship   · Global Voices
Afef Abrougui

This post is part of our special coverage Tunisia Revolution 2011.
Tunisian Ramzi Bettaieb (aka Winston Smith) is a Nawaat.org journalist and an activist who has entered his sixth day of hunger strike. He is protesting against the Tunisian military justice's lack of transparency in its handling of the “Martyrs’ Case”. The “Martyrs Case” refers to the military justice investigation into the murder of protesters during the Tunisian uprising which toppled the 23 year rule of Zeine el-Abidine Ben Ali.
Camera in chains photo by Nawaat.org
More than 300 persons died during the uprising, most of them protesters. So far, the military justice, blamed for its lack of transparency and slow pace of investigation, has not convicted any high official for killing protesters.
On 21 May, as Bettaieb was filming a court hearing in “Martyrs’ Case” at the Military Tribunal of El-Kef, an army general confiscated his two cameras accusing him of “collaborating with foreign forces.”
Nawaat tweeted on 21 May:
Army confiscated 2 cameras from @nawaat while covering the trial of the Snipers. “We're watching @nawaat very closely” said the commander!
On 29 May, military officers forced Lilia Weslati, another Nawaat.org journalist, to delete the videos she took. She tweeted [fr]:
Lors du procès des martyrs, les militaires m'ont obligé à supprimer mes vidéos et à signer un papier pour ne rien diffuser ‪#Tunisie‬ @nawaat
Through his hunger strike, Bettaieb is seeking to push the military authorities to permit journalists and activists to cover the legal proceedings in the Martyrs’ case “without any restrictions”. Journalists are only allowed to film for three minutes at the beginning of any court hearing.
In a statement published on 31 May, Nawaat explains [ar]:
Winston Smith on hunger strike photo by Nawaat
Standing in solidarity with hunger strikers:
As soon as news spread about the hunger strike, Tunisian tweeple have been using the hash tags #رجع_الكاميرا‬‏  (Arabic for ‘give back the camera’) and #Liberté_de_presse‬‏ (French for ‘freedom of Press’) to express their support for the journalists’ cause.
Sofien Soulhi (@Suo_Fei) tweets [ar]:
Seif Allah Bouneb (@Seif_AllahB) says [fr]:
je viens de revenir du local @nawaat et g rencontré Ramzi Bettaieb et il a tjrs le moral up !! courage man ‪#Liberté_de_Presse‬ رجع_الكاميرا#
Yassine Ayari, a blogger and activist, has gone on hunger strike in support of Winston Smith. He writes about his decision:
This hunger strike is to support Ramzi Betibi in his fight against military (in)justice which is threatening press freedom.
Political Cartoonists Join Cause:
Tunisian political cartoonists whose works have been flourishing since the fall of the Ben Ali rule have also joined Bettaieb's cause.
Cartoon by Seif Nechi
In this cartoon Bakounawar (character of cartoonist Seif Nechi) is illustrated as freeing two cameras with wings from a bird cage. Bakounawar comments:
consider them [cameras] as canary birds! Do not deprive the man from a Tunisian plate (a popular Tunisian dish), and do not deprive us from knowing what happened (during the uprising).
In this cartoon, by anonymous political cartoonist _Z_, Rachid Ammar, Chief of Staff of the Tunisian Armed Forces, is performing a puppet show. In one hand he holds a police officer, in the other he holds a judge. His eyes turn to a video journalist.
Protest:
A protest in support of Bettaieb is expected to take place tomorrow morning (June 3). The protest's starting point is Beb Bnet, where Nawaat office is located. The protesters will then march to Kasbah square, where the Prime Ministry is.
This post is part of our special coverage Tunisia Revolution 2011.