Sihem Bensedrine lauréate de la Fondation danoise pour la Paix (Fredsfonden)

Le 7 février, la Fondation danoise pour la Paix (Fredsfonden) a déscerné son Prix de la paix 2008 à la journaliste tunisienne et défenseur des droits de l’homme Sihem Bensedrine.

Le prix de la Paix a été décerné 14 fois depuis sa création en 1986. Parmi les personnalités qui l’ont reçu on comte : la journaliste russe Anna Politkovskaja (2005). L’expert nucléaire israélien Mordechai Vanunu (1988) et l’écrivain hongrois György Konrad (1986).

D’après le site de la fondation le prix est doté d’une prime d’un montant de 100 000 couronnes danoises.

Dans un interview accordé en Autriche à la journaliste ALEXANDRA SANDELS et publié sur le site Menassat le 22 fevrier, Sihem Bensedrine s’explique : (Voir aussi: la version Arabe)

Sihem Bensedrine: ‘Don’t believe the pretty postcard image’

Sihem Bensedrine has been harassed, assaulted, imprisoned and called a prostitute by Tunisia‘s government-run newspapers. Still, she refuses to keep quiet. Earlier this month she was given the 2008 Peace Prize by the Danish Peace Foundation for her lifetime achievement. MENASSAT spoke with Bensedrine about Tunisia‘s oppressive media environment and her ongoing plans to change it.

Editor’s Note: During the ‘Jahiliah,’ the days of ignorance before the coming of the Prophet, the poets were the media. While some sang the praises of whoever was in power, others refused to sell out and vowed only to tell the truth. They were the ‘saalik’ or ‘tramps.’ In this series, MENASSAT profiles people who we consider to be the modern-day ‘saalik.’ Our ‘Saalouka #5’ is Tunisian journalist and activist Sihem Bensedrine.

A veteran journalist and a human rights activist, Sihem Bensedrine has paid a high price for her work. Over the years, she has been subjected to constant harassment, surveillance, and even physical assault and temporarily imprisonment for speaking out against Tunisian President Ben Ali’s regime and the country’s poor human rights conditions. She has been depicted as a prostitute and a spy in Tunisia‘s state-run media. She has been banned from writing in her home country. She maintains numerous email addresses to trick the cyber police from eavesdropping on her work and life. Still, she refuses to keep quiet.

Bensedrine has been a reporter, editor, and publisher for the past two decades. In the 1980s, she was a reporter for the independent journal Le Phare and she later became political chief at Maghreb Réalités. She has served as editor-in-chief of the Gazette Touristique and managed opposition newspaper El Mawkif. She is also the founder of the online Tunisian magazine Kalima, which is banned inside Tunisia.

Bensedrine also serves as the spokesperson for the Tunisian human rights organization, Conseil National pour les Libertés en Tunisie, which she co-founded in 1998. The organization targets corruption in the legal system, oppression against women, torture, persecution and imprisonment of political opponents to Ben Ali’s rule.

She has received several awards for her activism and journalism, including an International Press Freedom Award from the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression in 2004.

MENASSAT: You were recently awarded the 2008 Peace Prize by the Danish Peace Foundation for your work. Are you happy to have won the prize?

SIHEM BENSEDRINE: Yes, I am very happy with the prize. It helps shed light on Tunisiaand the country’s human rights situation.

What will you do with the money you received from the award?

S.B.: We are planning to launch an online multimedia platform on freedom of expression in Tunisiaand the Maghreb region. It will be a daily platform with information on Tunisian affairs. The Tunisian authorities have a monopoly on the press and we are trying to circumvent the censorship through this new site. It will be a public forum where journalists contribute their stories and where readers can give their comments.