Zouhair Yahyaoui (; December 8, 1967 – March 13, 2005) was the first cyber-dissident to be pursued and condemned in
Tunisia
)
, image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa
, image_map2 =
, capital = Tunis
, largest_city = capital
, ...
, a country that is often rated at the top of lists of Internet policing by independent third-party sources such as the
OpenNet Initiative
The OpenNet Initiative (ONI) was a joint project whose goal was to monitor and report on internet filtering and surveillance practices by nations. The project employed a number of technical means, as well as an international network of investigato ...
. He was the nephew of the judge
Mokhtar Yahyaoui
Mokhtar Yahyaoui ( ar, مختار اليحياوي) was a human rights activist and a Tunisian judge. He was opposed to the system of former Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Yahyaoui was born on June 1, 1952 in the village of Ksar Hadada ...
, who was also a vocal critic of the Tunisian regime and its lack of respect for judiciary processes. His cousin
Amira Yahyaoui
Amira Yahyaoui (born August 6, 1984) is a Tunisian entrepreneur, blogger and human rights activist. She was previously the Founder and President of Al Bawsala, a multi-awarded transparency and accountability NGO.
Yahyaoui is a 2016 Young Global ...
founded the
NGO
A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...
''Al Bawsala''.
Career
Yahyahoui, alias Ettounsi, founded and edited one of the first open discussion forums on the Internet, the satirical website TUNeZINE (which has since been shut down). This 'Zine' (a play on words connecting the genre to the President) drew participants from across the political spectrum discussing women's issues, human rights, economic problems, freedom of expression as well as religion. The site itself was often victim of the prevalent
censorship in Tunisia; access to it could be difficult if at all possible, and though he used a pseudonym, Yahyaoui himself was tracked down and arrested for creating the site. Imprisoned for eighteen months in the Borj al Amri prison, there were numerous campaigns for his release. During his imprisonment, he executed three hunger strikes which helped to draw the attention of the international community. Some human rights activist groups like
Reporters Without Borders helped to draw attention to his case.
Death
After leaving prison, Zouhair Yahyaoui was no longer the same man. Weakened by hunger strikes, torture and bad treatment, he died of a heart attack on March 13, 2005. After the Tunisian revolution that ousted Zine el Abidine Ben Ali on January 14, 2011, the newly elected constituent assembly elected Ben Ali's long-time opponent,
Mohamed Moncef Marzouki, as a new president. Being a human rights activist, the new president decided that March 13 would become the national day of
Internet freedom to commemorate the death of Zouhair Yahyaoui.
Accolades
Yahyaoui was awarded numerous journalistic prizes (in absentia) for his efforts to create a democratic discussion forum; for example, in 2003 Reporters Without Borders gave him the Globenet-Cyber Freedom Prize.
Reporters Without Borders
Awards and honors
*2003 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award
Awards presented by the PEN American Center (today PEN America) that are no longer active.
The awards are among many PEN awards sponsored by International PEN in over 145 PEN centres around the world. The PEN American Center awards have been ...
References
External links
*See also PEN American Cente
numerous articles by the committee to Protect Journalists such a
an
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yahyaoui, Zouhair
1967 births
2005 deaths
Tunisian bloggers
20th-century Tunisian people
21st-century Tunisian people