Interviews with Sihem Bensedrine

It was of course for me it´s nothing. But around me, because my children were at the time teenagers it was not acceptable to them to read in the newspaper their mother is a prostitute.

It also something affected me because it was done repeatedly, a lot of times, a lot of campaigns against me with these kinds of accusations. And they used also a lot of tools like deprivation from passport during six years, deprivation from job. My– I was a journalist then. I didn´t have any newspaper where I can write. Then I decided to found a publishing house.

They closed down my publishing house. They also prevented my husband to get a job, to continue his work. They put him in house arrest during two years in order not to let this family have any kind of income and not be able to travel abroad in order to have a job, not inside the country, not outside. And it was really, really difficult to us during these six year where we are not able to have a job, because they are arresting people who accept to employ us.

And, you know– I come to a place. They accepted my application. And the day after, they call me, “Please– please do not come. We received a visit. And you understand. You can understand.” Of course I understand. And it was every time, every time. No one place I applied and they didn´t receive the Secret Police just after my visit. And they prevented them to employ me.

Sihem Bensedrine was born in 1950. She studied at the University of Toulouse Le Mirail in France, from which she holds a degree in philosophy. Upon her return to Tunisia in 1977, she began work as a journalist, and became known as a critic of the regime.

As one of the most prominent Tunisian human rights activists, she paid a high price for her views. The regime continually harassed her and her family, pressuring employers to fire her, applying financial pressure, and slandering her in the media. Bensedrine’s family was under constant surveillance, received death threats, and was at times not allowed to travel outside the country. Due to these threats, she spent years as an exile, continuing to speak out on human rights and democracy issues in her homeland.

In 1998, she cofounded the National Council for Liberties in Tunisia (CNLT). In 1999, she launched the “Kalima” website, which reported on conditions inside the country. Kalima later expanded to satellite radio broadcasting. She also cofounded the Observatory for Defense of Freedom of the Press, Publishing and Creation (OLPEC).

Bensidrine returned to Tunisia as the demonstrations against the Ben Ali regime gathered steam. She continues to advocate for freedom of the press and other human rights as Tunisia transitions to a new democratic system of government.