Tunisia: Media controls tightened

Tunisia’s Prime Minister and Secretary-General of the ruling Islamist al-Nahda party, Hamadi Jebali, was invited to close a two-day event held in Tunis in May to celebrate World Press Freedom Day. In his speech, Jebali remarked upon the importance of a free press for a properly functioning democracy, adding that the present government in Tunisia was 'fully committed to safeguarding a public and independent media'. Despite such words of assurance, the freedom and independence of Tunisian media remain under threat, says this article from