My tears mix with the pen ink because we no longer have a homeland for which to die. I have never been the hero of the stage, so your apologies and judgments are pointless. Press slaves are loyal to their new masters, exactly as they were to their old ones.

Kicking, slapping and verbally assaulting me, a policeman in black forced me to head toward one of the Intervention Unit’s (IU) cars even though I showed him my press card. This took place after the end of the second day activities of the World Social Forum on March 28, 2013 near Manar Campus Station in Tunis.

My tears mix with the pen ink because we no longer have a homeland for which to die. I have never been the hero of the stage, so your apologies and judgments are pointless. Press slaves are loyal to their new masters, exactly as they were to their old ones.

Kicking, slapping and verbally assaulting me, a policeman in black forced me to head toward one of the Intervention Unit’s (IU) cars even though I showed him my press card. This took place after the end of the second day activities of the World Social Forum on March 28, 2013 near Manar Campus Station in Tunis.

In the back seat, two policemen sat speechlessly watching the scene. A third policeman stood up to carry on his colleague’s task. He was tall and solidly built. He forced me to stand up and slapped me whenever he had the chance, motivated by his friend who dragged me into the car.

Not a single direct reason for such treatment was there; only a clear message against the freedom of expression, and a clear example of the behavior of the political police.

The investigation ended with nothing found; however, he kept threatening that he would frame me, so that I knew the real power of IUs. His friend started laughing as I felt pain surge through my back, eyes and all over my body. Finally, they set me free after they knew my address and destination.

I phoned human rights activists and unionists to tell them what happened. Then, I took the metro in order to go back to the city of Manouba where I live, accompanied by some journalists. To my surprise, a strange person in civil clothes asked for my press card which I had in my hands after the policemen had tried to tear it up in the car.

When I got off the metro, ten people began hitting me. I was about to lose consciousness, and could not know the direction towards my house. The severe injuries in the head, eyes, nose and shoulder caused me to vomit blood.

Considering what I was exposed to of hitting and oppression as an assault against a journalist while on duty, I brought the case before the court.

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Ltifi following the assualt. Private photo

Not the first time

The event reminds me of the time IUs assaulted me last year, when they dragged me and hit me on the head in the metro. The authorities then did not take any action despite the reactions the incident aroused among international and human rights organizations, like Reporters Without Borders and Amnesty International, which suggested in their reports titled “The Year of Revolutions” that the human rights condition in the Mediterranean and North Africa still needed more reforms called for by the protestors during the January 14th revolution.

I also recalled bad memories of the political police service detaining me when I was a student at the Press and Information Science Institute, engaged in the core activities of the General Union for Tunisia’s Students. Protests took place and I was caught carrying issues of the People’s Voice newspaper and a CD about the events of the Mine Basin (social protests in Southern Tunisia in 2008). They arrested me while kicking and slapping me and then forced me to sign a written assurance not be involved in such events.

Condemnation and revenge

A Journalist Syndicate statement described the assault as attempted murder and considered it an assault against all journalists, the aim of which was to create an environment of terrorism and intimidation.

The Syndicate Executive Office considered the Ministry of Interior and the judiciary responsible for all the consequences of the incident, and required all the relevant bodies to enforce the law and protect journalists in accordance with Decree 115 of 2011, which deemed any assault against journalists as committed against civil servants.

A report of Tunis Center for Press Freedom mentioned that assaults against journalists and media figures were continuous, and that four journalists, namely  Zied El-Heni, Negi Bghouri, Moez Ben Gharbia and Imad Lembi, were threatened of murder last March.

Moreover, the security forces broke into the Journalists Club on Monday, April 1, 2013, seized all alcoholic drinks and ordered to close it basing on no judicial writ. This was denounced by the Journalist Solidarity Fund, and many considered it as a revengeful action against the journalists who were not affected by intimidation and insisted on disclosing the assaults.

The ruling Ennahda Movement accuses the journalists of opposing the government, while the journalists say Ennahda aims at dominating media to politicize them.