Tunisia: journalists denounce attempt to run over colleagues by security officers

The Tunisian Journalists’ Syndicate has condemned an attempt to run over three of its members by security officers in a car, Al-Quds Al-Arabi has reported. The SUV apparently belonged to the National Security forces in Jendouba, and was part of the security detail for the minister of the interior.

The journalists were named as radio correspondent Hicham Al-Saghiri; Zouabi Qidum, the correspondent of the Tunis Africa news agency; and Asaad Al-Harzi, the correspondent of Express FM Radio. The syndicate branch in the region condemned the move and called on Interior Minister Kamal Al-Faqi to take disciplinary measures against the security personnel involved in the incident.

The three journalists posted a message on Facebook addressed to the minister and pointed out that they were only doing their job, which was to accompany the ministerial convoy and cover its progress. “We are professional journalists and our work is carried out within our professional guidelines,” they said. “The crime started with harassment to get us out of the way and ended up in an open chase. We cannot explain why this took place, so we await an official explanation for why security officials did this.”

The head of the Majd Party, Abdul Wahab Al-Hani, offered his solidarity with the journalists in the face of such “recklessness” on the part of the driver accompanying the minister.

The interior ministry had not issued any comment on the incident at the time of going to press.

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