Tunisian authorities deny passport to journalist Mohamed Hamrouni
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- 6 أبريل 2010
- مصدر الوثيقة:
- الحوار نت
Tunisian authorities deny passport to journalist Mohamed Hamrouni
Tunisian Committee for the Protection of Journalists
Tunis
April 3, 2010
Journalist Mohamed Hamrouni of Al-Mawqif opposition newspaper was informed today April 3, 2010 that his application for a passport was rejected by the Interior Ministry without giving him any further explanation.
Hamrouni applied for a passport at the Gammarth police station on 26 May, 2009 and was given a receipt for it (receipt number 136 recorded on May 26, 2009).
He was called to the same police station this morning whereby he was officially informed that his application was turned down.
The officer at the police station refused to give a copy of the rejection notice which Hamrouni had signed and refused to return his passport application.
It is worth noting that the application had originally been accepted and that Hamrouni has not been convicted of any criminal offences since his release from prison in 1995, having spent 3 years and 8 months in jail for his trade union and political activities, which means that he has now automatically regained his full political and civil rights in accordance with the country’s constitution.
The Tunisian Committee for the Protection of Journalists hereby:
- Strongly condemns the arbitrary denials of passports to journalists including Mohamed Hamrouni.
- Considers that this procedure further aggravates the sense of deprivation, abuses and harassment inflicted on independent journalists denying them their basic rights to have a passport and a journalist card, especially since this new measure comes less than a week after Hamrouni suffered a violent assault as he was heading to a press conference organised by Human Rights Watch and scheduled to take place in the capital Tunis on Wednesday March 24, 2010, which Tunisian authorities used police to prevent journalists attending it.
- Demands that the Tunisian authority give journalists all their rights including the right to have a passport, and lift all restrictions imposed on them hindering their movement and preventing them from fulfilling their duties under normal working conditions..
- Considers that the authorities bear full responsibility for the deterioration of the media sector and the decline in press freedom in our country