General Prosecutor Frees Two Newsmen But Continues Detainment of Paper’s Owner in Sami Khedira Photo Publication Case
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Logo of Attounissia
Tunisia’s General Prosecutor has decided to drop charges against two newsmen, Hedi Hediri– editor of the world section and Habib Guizani– editor in chief of the Tunisian daily paper Attounissia according to local radio station Mosaique FM.
However, the newspaper’s owner– Nassridine Ben Saida– remains detained for the publication of a front page photo showing Real Madrid Midfielder Sami Khedira in a tuxedo covering the breasts of his nude girlfriend Lena Gercke with his hand.
“This has generated unnecessary attention to the Attounissia decision to publish the photo,” said the newsmen’s lawyer, Khaled Krichi. “Ben Saida is being detained based on an old law that was cancelled with the passage of a new press code [by the government of interim Prime Minister Beji Caid Essebsi] on November 2nd,” Krichi added.
Krichi complained that he felt like Tunisia was regressing in press freedom to pre-revolutionary practices and warned that this case could lead down the slippery slope of a loss of liberty in Tunisia.
Tunisia’s National Union of Journalists have come to the aide of Ben Saida.
Zied El Heni, a spokesman for the union called the publication of the photo a professional mistake, however he said it was not a mistake large enough for a judicial proceeding against Ben Saida.
He argued that such mistakes should not be criminalized.
“We are condemning the continued detainment and arrest warrant issued against Ben Saida. The lack of professionalism of Attounissia’s editorial decision-makers does not justify the state taking away an individual’s freedom, rather this problem can be solved within the professional institutions for the journalists,” El Heni said.
Note: This article previously reported that the current Press Code in Tunisia was passed by the recently elected National Constituent Assembly. The article has been modified to correct the fact that the current Press Code was passed by the interim government of Prime Minister Beji Caid Essebsi.
The “old” instinct in these cases is always it seems to punish and control. When I first saw the photo I decided not to share it on my face book page as I knew that it would be offensive and too provocative for many of my friends. We are not yet at the stage of the sensational in Tunisia. But to arrest people for that seems extreme. Perhaps we need more in the way of codes of conduct and ethics designed by the media themselves with inputs from readers and viewers. The Australian Press Trust is a good example.