IP Democracy: Tunisian Authorities, Secret Police Meddle with WSIS Session

An interesting drama played out at the U.N.’s World Summit on an Information Society today. Berkman Center Fellows Rebecca MacKinnon and Ethan Zuckerman were scheduled to lead a workshop on “Expression on Repression.” But Tunisian authorities unilaterally cancelled the event because they deemed it to be incompatible with the conference themes.

The reality may be that the talk MacKinnon was scheduled to give took the Tunisian government to task for employing Internet filters to block out content.

After complaints by WSIS attendees, the session was put back on the schedule, but according to Berkman blog postings from the summit, secret police showed up in force at the session, scaring everyone.

before the break, a phalanx of secret police (ie scary guys in dark suits) showed up. they filled the hall outside the room, forcing cancellation of the break for fear that we’d not be allowed to re-start. as rsf started to hand out books at the non-break, the authorities stated that documents could only be distributed outside the event, not in the room. this is in direct contrast to the WSIS rules, which state that materials can be passed out inside an approved event (unless they receive special approval for wider distribution).

Addendum: The WSIS event in Tunis is no picnic for free press advocates. This Reuters piece reports that the press is being denied entry to public sessions at the summit, even when the journalists have been invited to attend. One reporter was reportedly kicked, beaten and stabbed by Tunisian police.

Posted by Cynthia Brumfield on November 17, 2005 1:58 PM to IP Democracy