Tunisia’s only independent online mag attacked

The online news magazine Kalima, often touted as one of the only independent news sources in Tunisia, has suffered an attack that has completely destroyed its web content, reports the Observatory for the Freedom of Press, Publishing and Creation in Tunisia (OLPEC).
Meanwhile, the websites of IFEX member Mizzima News, a Burmese news agency in exile, has also been hacked.
Kalima’s webmasters have been unable to access the site since 8 October. The site will now have to be completely rebuilt and uploaded.
Said Kalima editor-in-chief and OLPEC secretary-general Sihem Bensedrine, “The only people who would benefit from an attack on a website that is already inaccessible to Internet users in Tunisia are the security services.”
“I would not rule out the possibility that this act was committed by the secret services, with the aid of hackers or pirates based in Tunisia or abroad,” she added.
The attack comes three months after the site was re-launched as multimedia platform and archive.
Other independent sites have been the subject of similar attacks in the past. Tunisnews ( http://www.tunisnews.net ), which distributes a daily newsletter via email, was targeted in April. Judge Mokhtar Yahiaoui’s blog ( ) was attacked in November 2005.
Tunisian and foreign websites with a political or human rights focus have been censored in Tunisia for several years. The video-sharing sites Dailymotion and YouTube have also been the target of censors. The IFEX Tunisia Monitoring Group (TMG) is preparing a joint action on Kalima’s case