Tunisia: Bloggers' accusations are false

Tunisia's military court has denied accusations made by a group of bloggers that the judiciary "lacked independence", calling the claims "false and misleading". A Tunisian journalist said Tuesday he launched a hunger strike on May 28 to defend press freedom after military police seized the cameras he used to film the trial of ousted leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Ramzi Bettaieb, who works for Nawaat, a collective blog, said his cameras were confiscated on May 21 when he filmed the trial of Ben Ali and 22 co-accused in the northwestern town of Kef over their role in crushing anti-regime protests. "I am on a hunger strike to defend press freedom, our sole gain in the revolution," the 36-year-old told AFP. The army claims there was a ban on filming the hearings. The court said the judiciary would not be influenced by the journalist's claims and, stating: on May 21, Bettaieb introduced himself to the front desk of the permanent first instance military court in Kef, as one of the families of the victims and got a licence to pass through on that basis. Later, he was discovered to be a journalist, when he was caught  while shooting with his camera inside the tent dedicated to families of martyrs and wounded." The statement added: "Bettaieb did not present proof of prior authorisation by the media annex of the national defence ministry as required to cover the trial, but he deliberately asked one of the girls to stealthily bypass the camera, and was able to record  the events live in the tent without due permission." Bettaieb allegedly violated Tunisian law's Chapter 62 of Decree Number 115, dated November 2, 2011, which forbids audiovisual recording without a licence by the judicial authority. He has confessed  to his act and and asked for a pardon after promising not to repeat the "crime". The statement said: "The persistence of the concerned person to cover the entire activities of the session considering freedom of press and his willingness to fight for it as a pretext, reflects a misunderstanding of the meaning of freedom and a sacrilege of the rule of law and authorised jurisdiction that was empowered by law to manage the court's sessions and impose order in its halls. " The statement continued: "Bettaieb described  the military court as deranged and easy to influence , this reflects his ignorance or disregard of the reforms made to this institution," asserting that this "false allegations at the judiciary could lead to criminal culpability which was luckily not pursued by the military prosecutor, especially after he showed his remorse and apologised." Ben Ali, who fled to Saudi Arabia after being toppled in a popular uprising last year that sparked the Arab Spring revolts, is being tried in absentia. His co-accused are ex-senior officials being prosecuted for the deaths of at least 22 people during the January 2011 pro-democracy protests in the towns of Thala and Kasserine. Many of the victims died when security forces fired live rounds. Five other bloggers have joined Bettaieb in the hunger strike. "The soldier who deprived Ramzi of his work equipment is depriving us Tunisians of the right to information," a colleague wrote. Bettaieb says he wanted to highlight the plight of those whose relatives were killed in the crackdown by the Ben Ali regime to stifle the revolt, which claimed some 340 lives and saw nearly 2200 injured, according to the government. Nawaat was created in April 2004 and blocked in Tunisia until January last year. It played a major role in channelling the opposition to Ben Ali's long rule and covered protests that culminated in his ouster.