Sihem Bensedrine

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Sihem Bensedrine ( Arabic سهام بن سدرين, DMG Sihām b. Sadrīn ; * October 28, 1950 in La Marsa , Tunisia ) is a journalist who worked for various daily newspapers in Tunisia and was editor-in-chief of the online newspaper Kalima, which she co-founded and which was banned under President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali . She was imprisoned several times under Ben Ali.

Live and act

Even while studying philosophy in France, Bensedrine advocated the establishment of freedom of expression and democracy in her home country. From 1980 she worked as a journalist and editor for various daily newspapers. In 1985 she co-founded the feminist magazine Nissa . With the increasing censorship in Tunisia and repression against critical journalists, she became an opponent of President Ben Ali in the 1990s and reported on corruption and torture. In 1999 she founded Kalima magazine and tried to set up an independent newspaper project. However, the magazine was not licensed by the government, could not be printed, and was banned. The project was later continued as an online journal. She was also involved in the founding of publishing houses, which, however, were affected by state repression and had to be closed again.

Due to the critical reporting, Bensedrine was exposed to defamation campaigns in the state print media and was arrested several times. She accused the Tunisian government of torture. In 2004 she was publicly defamed and made implausible in a smear campaign with the participation of private media . In 2009 she had to go into temporary exile. She received a grant from the “Hamburg Foundation for the Politically Persecuted”. After the Tunisian Revolution , she went back to Tunisia in early 2011.

Commitment to human rights

From 1979 she was active in the Tunisian "League for Human Rights", which was later banned. Since 1980 she has been a member of the association of Tunisian journalists l'Association des journalistes tunisiens . Bensedrine and others founded the National Council for Freedom in Tunisia, Conseil national pour les libertés en Tunisie , which was banned from 1999 to February 28, 2011. Among other things, she was committed to women's rights at the "Tunisian Association of Democratic Women".

Private

Sihem Bensedrine is married to the journalist and human rights activist Omar Mestiri and has three children.

Honors

Fonts

  • Defeated Liberated. An Arab journalist experiences occupied Iraq. Translated from the French by Ursel Schäfer. Kunstmann, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-88897-362-7 .
  • with Omar Mestiri: Despots on Europe's doorstep. Why the security craze fuels extremism. Translated from the French by Ursel Schäfer. Kunstmann, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-88897-397-X . (An analysis of the political situation in the North African states of Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Ibn-Ruschd-Fund : Bensedrine's curriculum vitae , accessed on February 19, 2012.
  2. ↑ Reporters Without Borders article July 7, 2005, update January 20, 22016: You have no rights here, but welcome to Tunisia! Report on the situation of freedom of the press and freedom of expression in Tunisia.
  3. ^ Index on Censorship Award Winners 2006 . Retrieved October 7, 2013.
  4. ↑ Freedom to Publish Prize - 2009 , accessed August 29, 2019.
personal data
SURNAME Bensedrine, Sihem
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Tunisian journalist
DATE OF BIRTH October 28, 1950
PLACE OF BIRTH La Marsa ( Tunis )