Zouhair Yahyaoui

Who was Zouhair Yahyaoui?

Zouhair Yahyaoui was the first cyber-dissident to be pursued and condemned in Tunisia, a country that is often rated at the top of lists of Internet policing by independent third-party sources such as the OpenNet Initiative. He is the nephew of the judge Mokhtar Yahyaoui, who is also a vocal critic of the Tunisian regime and its lack of respect for judiciary processes.

Yahyahoui, alias Ettounsi, founded and edited one of the first open discussion forums on the Internet, the satirical website TUNeZINE. This 'Zine' drew participants from across the political spectrum discussing women's issues, human rights, economic problems, freedom of expression as well as religion. The site itself was often victim of the prevalent censorship in Tunisia; access to it could be difficult if at all possible, and though he used a pseudonym, Yahyaoui himself was tracked down and arrested for creating the site. Imprisoned for eighteen months in the Borj al Amri prison, there were numerous campaigns for his release. During his imprisonment, he executed three hunger strikes which helped to draw the attention of the international community. Some human rights activist groups like Reporters Without Borders helped to draw attention to his case.