In Tunisia the volume of protest against the internet censorship is rising. There are growing demands to allow freedom of internet usage in the country classified as "anti-internet" by press freedom organisation Reporters Without Borders. A group of young Tunisians and web activists have started a campaign planned to run throughout May to confront the electronic censor, whom they mockingly refer to as "Ammar 404".

by Ismail Dabarra

Tuesday, April 27th was an extraordinary day for the internet in Tunisia, when popular sites like YouTube and The Daily Motion were blocked. The censorship even hit cookery websites that didn't contain a hint of political criticism. Pressure on the press authorities to back down grew, with protest including a petition aiming to amass 10,000 signatures against censorship, 4000 of which have already been collected. Activists stormed internet websites and networks with photos and videos.

Young activists
One of the most novel campaigns calls itself Seyyeb Saleh. It started on Facebook and Twitter before establishing its own website and managing to gather 6500 participants and attracting a group of young activists to administrate and promote it.

One of Seyyeb Saleh's supervisors told Radio Netherlands Worldwide's Arabic Service, on condition of anonymity, that the term Seyyeb Saleh is a traditional expletive in Tunisian dialect, meaning "give me my freedom". "Our initiative was spontaneous, but was ready to come out one day especially after the recent fierce attack by Tunisian censorship on internet websites". The campaign encouraged internet users to overcome the barrier of fear and even show their faces to express their protest. The website http://ammar405.tumblr.com, which was blocked a few hours after its appearance, featured protestors revealing their names and surnames in an attempt to mock or even provoke the Tunisian censor.

Cooking websites
Lina Ben Mehenna, a professor at April 9 University, had her personal blog blocked twice. She is now a part of the protest campaign. Lina told RNW, "Past campaigns against censorship were mainly sponsored by elite politicians and rights activists as the blocking was mainly directed at political and news websites, but it has now moved to websites that have nothing to do with politics, including photo, video, and music sharing websites, cooking websites, and even those dealing with arts and theatre."

Moez al Bay, a journalist at Kalema radio, says that the blocking of sites that provided a means of expression to young internet users has attracted them to join the campaign against censorship aimed at normal internet users rather than opposition politicians.

Court order
Moez Al-Bay told RNW, "Most countries practice censorship on the internet, but the difference is that the Tunisian censor works undercover, although blocking is only supposed to be authorised via a court order. The government never admits such censorship while allocating huge sums to practice censorship, and equally huge sums to evade any legal responsibility of such practices."

Blogger Lina Mehenna adds, "In many cases, citizens turned to the courts to fight for their rights after being affected by censorship. But the Tunisian judiciary has never shown itself to be impartial on the issue. It has always come down on the side of the censor, the Tunisian Internet Agency, and up to now has ever done justice to any claimant."