Tunisia: Artists imprisoned because of rap video
Actress Sabrine Klibi and cameraman Mohamed Hedi Belgueyed were sentenced to six months in prison for their participation in the music video ‘Cops are Dogs’, reported Tunisia Live. At the Court of First Instance of Ben Arous, a southern suburb of Tunis, the artists were charged according to five articles of the Tunisian Penal Code [...]
Tunisia: Rapper and video team charged for hate speech, two arrested
Mohamed Belgueyed, the owner of a video camera, and actress Sabrine Klibi were taken into custody on 10 March 2013 for their connection to the new music video ‘Cops are Dogs’ by Tunisian rapper Weld El 15. The video was uploaded to YouTube on 3 March 2013: The rapper, Weld El 15, (real name: Ala [...]
Tunisia’s ground zero for creative freedom
The ‘Nadia Jelassi’ affair has become a stake, a symbol of the successful democratic transition of the Tunisian revolution, and could represent ground zero for individual freedoms in the country that in late 2010 sparked off a world geopolitical earthquake. BY KERIM BOUZOUITA • OCTOBER 2012 • [PDF] IT’S 2012 IN TUNISIA and artist Mohamed [...]
Tunisians experience new kind of ‘censorship’ in the public domain
Alice Fordham reports from Tunisia, in an article in the National, on how artists have to deal with new types of censorship after the revolution. “What a paradox to assert today that it is even more difficult than yesterday to be an artist in Tunisia! After a popular uprising which could (should) have generated more [...]
Tunisia: Artists under attack
Art pieces at the ‘Printemps des Arts’ fair in Tunis have caused public outrage for being ‘blasphemous’ and offensive to Islam. The artists involved have received death threats and their works at the art fair were destroyed. The Minister of Culture condemned the artworks, which in return caused an uproar in the Tunisian arts community. [...]
Censorship controversy at Tunis Art Fair
Hours after the opening of Printemps des Arts fair in Tunis, a controversy broke out when one of the organisers asked the artist Electro Jaye to take down his piece, ‘La république Islaïque de Tunisie’. (The word “islaïque” is a combination of the word “Islam” with the word “laïque,” which means “laic” or “secular.”) The [...]
Tunisia: Owner of tv-station fined for airing film which depicts Allah
On 7 October 2011, the film Iranian ‘Persepolis’ was shown on the Tunisian private television station Nessma TV. The film includes a scene depicting Allah, whose portrayal is forbidden by Islam. On 3 May 2012, the owner of Nessma TV was fined US$ 1,700 for the airing of the film. On 8 October 2011, a [...]
Tunisia: Culture minister vows to defend artistic freedom
Tunisia’s culture minister, under fire for saying he would exclude sexy Lebanese pop stars from an annual music festival, has promised to protect artistic freedoms which are on the front line of a standoff between secularists and Islamists. By Tarek Amara Tunisia, whose uprising against secular strongman Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali sparked last year’s Arab [...]
