Day: April 16, 2024

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SNJT reports 14 attacks on journalists in March


Tunis: The National Union of Tunisian Journalists (SNJT) said Tuesday that the monitoring unit of the Professional Security Centre recorded 14 attacks on journalists in March, out of 19 reports received through direct contacts, by monitoring the websites of media institutions, following programmes and news in the media or by monitoring social media.

According to the report issued by the Monitoring Unit, the attacks affected 23 professionals, including 20 journalists and 2 photojournalists, representing 14 media institutions (7 radio stations, 3 websites, 2 written newspapers, 1 television station and 1 news agency), noting that these media institutions include 1 confiscated institution, 8 private institutions, 4 public institutions and 1 community media.

In March, 6 attacks on journalists took place in Tunis, 3 in Nabeul, 2 each in Ben Arous and Kasserine, and 1 in Zaghouan.

The union called on the Prime Ministry to withdraw government circulars that prevent representatives of public institutions and bodie
s from providing timely and accurate information to the media, in particular Circular No. 19.

It also called on the Ministry of Justice to develop the capacity of judges in the field of human rights and press freedom by organising joint training sessions between them and journalists to further strengthen relations.

The SNJT also urged the judicial authorities to expedite a cassation session on the case of colleague Chadha Haj Mbarek, after the first session was postponed, ‘in order to stop the injustice against her,’ and to release journalist Mohamed Boughalleb and drop charges against him outside the framework of the law regulating the press.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

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Conspiracy against state case: procedures and deadlines respected, court division spokesperson


Tunis: The investigating judge in charge of the “conspiracy against state security” case decided on April 12 to close the investigation, Hanen Gaddes, spokesperson for the judicial anti-terrorism division told TAP on Tuesday.

“The news spread by certain media outlets that the procedures and deadlines set by law have been violated is unfounded,” she assured.

The defence lawyer for the detainees in the case, Islem Hamza, said at a press conference on Tuesday that the 14-month legal period of pre-trial detention for the defendants would end at midnight on Friday, April 19, 2024.

According to the defence lawyer, this maximum 14-month period cannot be extended because the Indictment Chamber did not refer the case to the Criminal Chamber.

The defence lawyer pointed out that the Defence Committee is still waiting for the decision on the closure of the investigation in order to know the exact charges against the accused and thus be able to prepare its report and submit its objections.

Hanen Gaddes told TAP that
all the procedures and deadlines laid down by law had indeed been respected, “contrary to what certain parties are claiming in order to influence public opinion”.

She stressed that the procedures followed in the “conspiracy” case were those prescribed by the Code of Criminal Procedure, adding that the judge in charge of the case had decided to maintain the precautionary measures taken in connection with the investigation, including the decision to ban media coverage of the case.

On April 4, the Indictment Chamber of the Tunis Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the first investigating judge of the Judicial Anti-Terrorism Division to refuse to release the defendants.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

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Tunisia displays 14 art pieces at Africa and Byzantium travelling exhibition


Tunis: After an initial display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York from November 19, 2023 to March 03, 2024, drawing nearly 190,000 visitors, a collection of works from Tunisia on the Byzantine period (from the foundation of Constantinople to the fall of the city by the Ottomans) is currently on show at the Cleveland Museum of Art in Ohio, as part of the 2nd stage of the largest travelling exhibition in the United States of America “Africa and Byzantium,” held on April 14-July 21, 2024.

The pieces, from three museums – the National Museum of Carthage, the Archaeological Museum of Enfidha and the National Museum of Islamic Art in Raqqada – TAP learned, bear witness to the contribution of African know-how and its influence on art and culture throughout the Byzantine Empire in its eastern and western parts, highlighting the influence of North Africa on Byzantine civilisation in its artistic, cultural and religious expressions.

The collection consists of two mosaics, including “The Lady of Carthage,”
considered to be one of the exhibition’s masterpieces. This emblematic piece from the Carthage Museum is a female representation that should be the personification of the city of Carthage in the Christian era.

Also on display are Christian lamps depicting Adam and Eve and the twelve apostles, terracotta tiles depicting the sacrifice of Abram, with biblical themes and Christian motifs, and two sheets of the Koran dating from the 8th and 9th centuries, when Africa became a Muslim empire.

A delegation from the National Heritage Institute (INP) led by its Managing Director Tarek Baccouche, attended the inauguration of the second and final phase of the travelling exhibition, in which Tunisia is participating alongside several other countries including Egypt, Morocco, France and Greece, with collections dating from the 4th and 5th centuries and tracing the relationship between Africa and the Byzantine Empire.

According to information presented by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, “the Africa and Byzantium exhibiti
on recounts Africa’s central role in international networks of trade and cultural exchange. With nearly 200 artworks rarely or never before seen in public, Africa and Byzantium sheds new light on the staggering artistic achievements of medieval Africa.”

“This long-overdue exhibition highlights how the continent contributed to the development of the premodern world and offers a more complete history of the vibrant multiethnic societies of north and east Africa that shaped the artistic, economic, and cultural life of Byzantium and beyond.”

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

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