The High Independent Authority of Audiovisual Communication (HAICA) held a conference on Friday in Tunis on «Media and Justice: Areas of Intervention to Preserve Rights and Freedoms.»
The conference aims to “establish a relationship between the media and justice within a participatory approach where roles are more clearly defined.”
A draft of the Tunis Declaration on the areas of intervention for media and justice to preserve rights and freedoms will be announced at the conclusion of this conference, as per HAICA.
This conference, attended by experts in the fields of justice and media, takes place within the context of the «need to open a debate on freedom of expression and information and the role of justice in establishing mechanisms capable of guaranteeing these freedoms and protecting the journalist’s right to information,” according to an introductory note.
Member of the HAICA council Radhia Saïdi said this conference is organised in a delicate national context where calls for judicial independence and freedom of expression and information are increasing. «There are attempts to weaken HAICA, particularly by undermining its decision-making power, especially since the retirement of its former president Nouri Lajmi, last January,» she said.
Since that date, the council of the institution has been unable to publish its decisions to the public, regarding certain media institutions and numerous projects submitted to HAICA.
Among the attempts to bypass the prerogatives of the regulatory body, she continued, is “issuing a court decision prohibiting audiovisual media from commenting on the case known as the conspiracy against state security.»
It is necessary to launch a debate among justice, media, and the regulatory body to define the areas and limits of intervention in order to preserve rights and freedoms, she added.
On his part, president of the National Union of Tunisian Journalists (SNJT) Yassine Jlassi noted a «return of state mechanisms, including the judiciary, to prior control over media content.»
To prosecute 23 journalists within three months based on Decree-Law No. 54 of September 13, 2022, regarding offenses related to information and communication systems constitutes a clear violation of Decree-Laws No. 115 and 116 governing the media sector, according to Jlassi.
For him, «this is a policy of the current government aimed at undermining the rights and achievements of the information sector.”
Prosecutor General at the Court of Appeals in Monastir and spokesperson for the courts of Monastir and Mahdia Farid Ben Jha emphasised in a statement to the media the imperative of enacting an organic law that clearly defines the areas of intervention for the media in ongoing cases.
He also stressed the need to respect the role of HAICA in regulating the audiovisual landscape.
This conference was organised in partnership with UNESCO, Article 19, the Danish Institute for Human Rights (DIHR), and SNJT.
Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse