PARIS - France voiced concern Friday over the fate of a Tunisian journalist and vocal critic of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali who was arrested last week for allegedly assaulting a woman and faces trial.Taoufik Ben Brik was detained on October 29 and is being held in a town outside the capital Tunis pending trial later this month.
"We are following the situation closely and we have expressed our concern to the ambassador of Tunisia" in Paris, said foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero. "We have also raised this issue with our European partners."
France "is concerned by the difficulties hampering journalists and human rights defenders in Tunisia," said Valero.
Tunisia's Justice Minister Bechir Tekkari responded to criticism Friday by saying that "when a journalist commits acts endangering public security and the safety of others, his (profession) of journalist doesn't spare him being pursued by the law."
Ben Brik is "being pursued for assaulting a woman, who came forward with witnesses and a medical certificate to back up her allegations," Tekkari said.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said in a statement last week that the charges were bogus and that Ben Brik was too ill to stand trial.
Authorities arrested Ben Brik after he allegedly attacked a woman in the street and charged him with violating public decency, defamation and assault.
The woman, Rym Nasraoui, has defended herself in the press from allegations that she was used to put Ben Brik behind bars.
"I've nothing to do with politics," the businesswoman told the private daily Echourouk. "The accusation that I was used by the police is false and constitutes an attempt by Ben Brik to escape from his penal responsibilities."
The journalist faces up to five years in jail if convicted during his trial starting November 19.
Ben Brik's lawyer Nejib Chebbi told AFP that "the only explanation" for his arrest was a number of articles he recently published in the French press that were highly critical of the government.
RSF said Ben Brik is suffering from Cushing's Syndrome, a disease that weakens the immune system, and is being denied access to the correct drugs.
Asked about the conditions of Ben Brik's detention, Tekkari said that the journalist was in a normal cell, awaiting his trial.
"He receives visits from members of his family and from his lawyers, who are sometimes too numerous," Tekkari said, adding that the journalist had "no known health problem that's been reported."
Tekkari added that another detainee, Zouhair Makhlouf, was being pursued judicially for illegally taking photographs in an industrial area in the northern town of Nabeul.
Makhlouf works for an opposition weekly. His trial will be on November 24, Tekkari said.