A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that the Tunisian Ministry of Culture’s review board had decided to censor playwright Jalila Baccar’s new work, Corps-otages (Captive Bodies). So thanks are due to Klaus for pointing me in the direction of the much fuller picture contained in this roundup of Tunisian blogs.

Although theatre is the only cultural form subject to preliminary censorship, TV is far from immune to state intervention, as highlighted by blogger and former judge Mokhtar Yahyaoui. He points to the popular Bidoun Istithan (Without Invitation) in which journalist, Farah Ben Amara highlights the hidden side of Tunisian society by broadcasting his meetings with the poorest people in the country. The programme, which was broadcast on Hannibal TV - Tunisia’s only private TV station - has been cancelled following a campaign organised by some journalists working in government-controlled media.

Internet censorship in the country is still going strong with many expressing surprise at the discovery that this includes online translation sites. According to the Open Net Initiative the reasoning behind this form of censorship is that:

Like anonymizers, translation sites can permit users to reach blocked content. A user who requests that such a site translate a filtered page can often read the prohibited content since it is the translation site, not the user, that accesses the blocked content.

And finally, a pair of related stories which very effectively highlight the connection between censorship and repression. So let’s start with Fulla, the dark-eyed doll with Muslim values.

Claiming that the hijab-clad doll encourages sectarianism, the Tunisian authorities have started the school year by cracking down on toy shops, confiscating both the doll and other goods bearing a photo of it.

Not surprisingly, the campaign that started with dolls has quickly extended to people with police applying with renewed vigour a decree dating back to 1981 which prohibits women from wearing Islamic headscarves in public places. Decree 108 pioneered legal bans on the veil in the country at the height of the confrontation between the authorities and Islamists.

Police in Tunisia have been stopping women on the streets and asking them to remove their headscarves and sign pledges that they will not go back to wearing them.

Human rights groups in the country have described the move as unconstitutional and Francophone blogger, Stupeur, highlights the contradictions inherent in banning things by publishing pictures of a selection of things banned in the country.

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