Interviews with Sihem Bensedrine

Prison is not good for anybody. But what I was suffering before during these more than ten years I was in a kind of invisible prison. It was much more strong and much more difficult than the real prison.

This invisible prison was much more painful than the physical prison I was put in. And for the first time, the human rights community of the world, the journalists for them, they are showing the real face of this false democracy of Ben Ali.

And for the first time, they are aware we are confronted by a dictatorship. It´s not something banal. It´s not something common. It´s a dictatorship. And for me, starting from this point, my life was much more easy than before. Because before, I was really disabled. I don´t have any opportunity to have a normal life, not only for me, even for my children, for my husband, for my sister, for my mother, for my brother, for everybody who have any link with me.

But after that, after the prison– Ben Ali did a mistake. And after two months, he released me. Because he realized that it was a mistake. Because the building was not visible before. And at that time, for each, it becomes much more visible, the real face of this dictatorship.

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.