Tunisia lifts ban on several controversial books

2008-02-21

Tunisia’s Ministry of Culture announced this week that it would release a number of previously-censored books. They range from studies on human rights in the Maghreb and censorship in the Arab region to a political participation guide for women.

By Jamel Arfaoui for Magharebia in Tunis – 21/02/08

[aihr.org.tn] The Tunis-based Arab Institute for Human Rights (AIHR) confirmed on Monday (February 18th) that Tunisia would lift a ban on a number of books which have been withheld from the public for years.

In a decision welcomed by Tunisian researchers and novelists, the Ministry of Culture announced that several works previously banned by the Censorship Department will be freed for publication. The Arab Institute for Human Rights (AIHR) confirmed on Monday (February 18th) that Tunisia would lift the ban on books which have been held in a legal limbo for years.

President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, to mark the twentieth anniversary of his ascension to the presidency, announced the cancellation of administrative censorship on books and publications three months ago. Ben Ali’s measure granted the right to deny publication of books to the Tunisian judiciary, where previously that censorship power had been vested in the Ministry of Culture. The decision also enabled publishers to withdraw their books from printing houses directly without obtaining a license from the ministry.

Most of the just-released titles deal with human rights in the Arab region, such as Human Rights in Arab Educational Institutions and Right to a Fair Trial in Arab World. Another book, Analysis of Discourse on Human Rights in Maghreb Countries, has been waiting for distribution approval since 1999. Other studies, such as the 2003 Political Participation Guide for Democratic Women, focus exclusively on issues in Tunisia.

Historian Abdejlil Temimi, who had been waiting to obtain distribution approval for five books from the Censorship Department, said the Ministry of Culture advised him Saturday that the works would be released. One of Temimi’s studies is titled Intellectual Censorship in Arab Countries.

Academic and researcher Saloua Charfi confirmed to Magharebia that the release decision included some of her own works. "Finally, they released my book entitled 'Islamists and Democracy', which has been banned since 2000. However, there is now only one copy of that book. As to the remaining copies, they have been damaged in warehouses as a result of floods and rat bites," she said.

The Censorship Department released three additional studies conducted by Charfi: Human Rights in Tunisian Press, Monograph of the Tunisian Association for the Defence of Human Rights, and the Discourse of Tunisian Association for the Defence of Human Rights. All of these books "are still of significant scientific and documentary value", Charfi said, adding that she would rush to distribute them to the public.

"The banning of books in societies where illiteracy is terrifyingly rampant is a foolish and stupid thing to do," Novelist Hacen Ben Othmane, who was forced to fight a media and legal battle to obtain a publication licence for one of his works, told Magharebia.

To Ben Othmane, the government’s move is welcome, but overdue. "The Tunisian people have come of age; something that enables them to discern between good and bad; fine and malicious," he said.

"It is about time that those who consider us to be minors stopped their silly practices."