World tourism fair : Press freedom activists picket Cuba, Egypt and Tunisia stands at tourism trade fair in Paris

World tourism fair : Press freedom activists picket Cuba, Egypt and
Tunisia stands at tourism trade fair in Paris

Around 30 members and supporters of Reporters Without Borders
demonstrated in front of the Cuba, Egypt and Tunisia stands at the
tourism trade fair in Paris today in protest against these countries'
press freedom violations, unfurling banners and putting up posters
calling for the release of imprisoned journalists and bloggers.

Wearing T-shirts saying "Cuba = prison," "Tunisia = land of repression"
and "Egypt = Internet enemy," they placed black stripes on Cuba's stand
to symbolize prison bars, they festooned Tunisia's stand with police
barrier tape and they hung computer mice across Egypt's stand.

"We chose these countries because they are all enemies of press freedom
and leading tourist destinations," Reporters Without Borders said. "We
did this to draw the plight of the local journalists to the attention of
the millions of holiday-makers who travel each year to Cuba, Egypt and
Tunisia. Tourists need to know what is going on behind the scenes.
Behind the beaches and palm trees, journalists and bloggers are
imprisoned, news media are harassed and families are intimidated."

A total of 25 journalists are currently jailed in Cuba. It is the
world's second biggest prison for the press, after China. Several
journalists are serving sentences of more than 20 years and are in very
poor health. Four years after the March 2003"Black Spring" in which 75
dissidents were arrested, the transfer of power from Fidel Castro to his
brother Raúl has changed nothing in this tropical dictator paradise.
Both independent journalists and visiting foreign correspondents are
closely watched. Three foreign reporters were recently told to leave
because their stories were not liked.

Bloggers are the targets of government repression in Egypt. One, Kareem
Amer, was sentenced to four years in prison in February for "inciting
hatred of Islam" and insulting President Hosni Mubarak in his blog. He
had criticised the country's leading religious institutions including
the Sunni Al-Azhar University where he studied law. Egypt was added to
the Reporters Without Borders list of Internet Enemies at the end of
last year. Cuba and Tunisia are also on it.

The few opposition journalists in Tunisia are kept under close
surveillance and are constantly prevented from working. The entire press
is in the pay of President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali and his policies. The
authorities continue to ban the creation of new independent media and
the Internet is filtered. A lawyer, Mohammed Abbou, has been imprisoned
for the past two years just for posting articles critical of the
president on the Internet.

In the most recent Reporters Without Borders annual Worldwide Press
Freedom Index, Egypt was ranked 133rd out of 167 countries, Tunisia was
148th and Cuba was 165th.

Other countries represented at the Paris tourism fair by their tourism
office or their national airline are also frequent violators of
journalists' rights and press freedom. They are Algeria, China, Libya,
Maldives, Russia, Syria and Vietnam.

http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=21329