Sofiene Chourabi (; born 24 June 1982 in

Soliman Soliman an alternative to may refer to: * Soliman (surname), including a list of people with the name * Soliman Kenawy, Egyptian journalist * Soliman, Tunisia, a place See also * Suleiman, a name, including a list of variants * Solomon (disambigua ...

, Tunisia) is a Tunisian journalist, activist, cyber-activist and

blogger A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

, who opposed the regime of

Zine El Abidine Ben Ali Zine El Abidine Ben Ali (Tunisian Arabic: , ; 3 September 1936 – 19 September 2019), commonly known as Ben Ali or Ezzine, was a Tunisian politician who served as the second President of Tunisia from 1987 to 2011. In that year, during the Tun ...

. He has been missing in Libya since 8 September 2014.

Biography

Journalistic career and activity

A graduate of the Faculty of Legal, Political and Social Sciences in

Tunis Tunis (, ') is the capital city, capital and largest city of Tunisia. The greater metropolitan area of Tunis, often referred to as "Grand Tunis", has about 2,700,000 inhabitants. , it is the third-largest city in the Maghreb region (after Casabl ...

, he joined the

Ettajdid Movement The Ettajdid Movement (''Movement for Renewal'' ; , ' ; ), also referred to simply as Ettajdid, was a centre-left secularist political party in Tunisia, active from 1993 to 2012. History and profile Ettajdid evolved out of the old Tunisian Commu ...

and became a journalist for its daily newspaper, ''Attariq Al Jadid''. In addition to her articles in Attariq Al Jadid, Sofiene Chourabi continues to criticize the regime of

through his personal blogs and by becoming an observer for the French channel

France 24 France 24 ( in French) is a French state-owned publicly funded international news television network based in Paris. Its channels, broadcast in French, English, Arabic and Spanish, are aimed at the overseas market. Based in the Paris suburb ...

, which broadcasts her videos and images on police repression during the Tunisian revolution. After the revolution, he temporarily left journalistic work to join the

Higher Authority for Realisation of the Objectives of the Revolution, Political Reform and Democratic Transition The Higher Authority for Realisation of the Objectives of the Revolution, Political Reform and Democratic Transition (, ') was a transitional authority in the aftermath of the Tunisian Revolution. It was created on 15 March 2011 by merging of ...

and founding the association Conscience politique which aimed to "contribute to education politics of citizens and the improvement of their political consciousness". He also participates in Open Blogging Workshops to promote alternative media and citizen journalism. Sofiene Chourabi returned to journalism by working as a columnist for the

Nessma Nessma El Jadida (, translation: New Breeze), formerly known as Nessma TV (, translation: "Breeze TV") and Nessma Rouge (, translation: Red Breeze) was a commercial TV channel based in Tunisia, targeting Tunisia and the Maghreb countries. It was ...

television channel then on the information site of the

Institute for War and Peace Reporting The Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR) is an independent nonprofit organization that trains and provide publishing opportunities for professional and citizen journalists. IWPR is registered in the UK as a charity (charity reg. no: 1027201, ...

. In 2014, he joined the new television channel First TV and hosted the show ''Doussiyet''.

Departure for Libya and disappearance

Sofiene Chourabi and Nadhir Ktari poster - SNJT

As part of his work with First TV, in September 2014 he decided to leave with photographer Nadhir Ktari for Libya to produce a report, but they were both kidnapped by a

militia A militia ( ) is a military or paramilitary force that comprises civilian members, as opposed to a professional standing army of regular, full-time military personnel. Militias may be raised in times of need to support regular troops or se ...

near the

Ajdabiya Ajdabiya ( ; ) is a town in and capital of the Al Wahat District in northeastern Libya. It is some south of Benghazi. From 2001 to 2007 it was part of and capital of the Ajdabiya District. The town is divided into three Basic People's Congres ...

region on 8 September. Since then, their fate remains unknown. On 8 January 2015, the

Islamic State The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadism, Salafi jihadist organization and unrecognized quasi-state. IS ...

announced that it had executed Chourabi and Ktari. However, Tunisian Interior Minister Mohamed Najem Gharsalli claimed in April that the two men were still alive. On April 29, the Libyan site ''Bawabat Al Wassat'' announced that an official from the Libyan Ministry of Justice confirmed the death of a team from the ''Barqa TV'' channel and two Tunisian journalists. According to the same site, the

Libyan National Army The Libyan National Army (LNA; , ''al-jaysh al-waṭaniyy al-Lībii''), also known as the Libyan Arab Army (LAA; , ''al-Jaysh al-'Arabiyy al-Lībii'') or the Libyan Arab Armed Forces (LAAF; ), is a component of Libyan Armed Forces, Libya's mil ...

arrested five individuals who confirmed the assassination. On 7 January 2017, a Libyan television channel broadcast the testimony of a jihadist captured by the Libyan army in which he confirmed the execution of the two journalists and specified that Chourabi had his throat slit and that Ktari was shot dead in a forest, after their death sentence by an Islamic State court in Derna. On 18 March 2021, the ''Kapitalis'' website claims that the two journalists are alive and imprisoned in Libya. On 24 March, the El Hiwar Et Tounsi television channel claimed that the two journalists were on their way to Tunisia, based on information provided by Nadhir Ktari's mother.

Arrest

On 5 August 2012, he was arrested by the police for

drunkenness Alcohol intoxication, commonly described in higher doses as drunkenness or inebriation, and known in overdose as alcohol poisoning, is the behavior and physical effects caused by recent consumption of alcohol. The technical term ''intoxication ...

and indecency, an arrest condemned by

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

and the journalist's entourage, who saw this arrest as punishment due to his criticism of

Jebali Cabinet The first cabinet of Tunisian Head of Government Hamadi Jebali was presented on 20 December 2011. Jebali has been appointed by interim President Moncef Marzouki, who had been elected by the National Constituent Assembly A constituent assemb ...

. Not having lost his opponent's reflex, Chourabi did not stop criticizing the

Troika Troika or troyka (from Russian тройка, meaning 'a set of three' or the digit '3') may refer to: * Troika (driving), a traditional Russian harness driving combination, a cultural icon of Russia Politics * Triumvirate, a political regime rul ...

government, calling for demonstrations against it a few days before his arrest. He was finally sentenced to pay a fine of 104 dinars.

Awards

* Omar Ourtilane international prize by ''

El Khabar ''Elkhabar'' () is a daily newspaper in Algeria published seven days a week in the tabloid format. It is one of the most widely read Algerian newspapers. ''El Khabar''′s web service publishes selected news in Arabic and French, with a minor ...

'': 2011

References

External links

* * {{Instagram , chourabi_sofiane Tunisian journalists Tunisian bloggers Tunisian activists