More than a dozen journalists assaulted in Tunisia, rights group says

[News_Editor]

More than a dozen journalists assaulted in Tunisia, rights group says

2011-05-10 06:03:20 GMT+7 (ICT)

NEW YORK (BNO NEWS) -- The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said plainclothes police physically assaulted 15 local and international journalists on Friday during anti-government demonstrations in the Tunisian capital, a press release said Monday.

CPJ called on the Tunisian authorities to restrain from attacking journalists reporting on anti-government demonstrations after the National Syndicate of Tunisian Journalists condemned the attack, saying scores of plainclothes police brutally beat journalists and destroyed their cameras.

"It is unfortunate to see Tunisian police revert to their old repressive ways," said CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator Mohamed Abdel Dayem. "It is not enough for the interior ministry to apologize to journalists and identify the offending officers; a credible investigation must hold accountable all those found to have violated the law by physically assaulting journalists."

Among the journalists who were assaulted were the Associated Press' Hassan Duraidi, three Al-Jazeera journalists, and Radio Kalima's Marwa al-Raqiq, who was injured and required hospitalization.

The state-run TAP news agency reported on Saturday that the Tunisian government had declared an overnight curfew after days of unrest.

In January, former President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali was ousted after weeks of violent protests over economic issues. The United Nations estimated that approximately 219 people were killed during the Tunisian mass unrest that began in mid-December. Most of them died after security forces were ordered to fire at them.

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