Why this site?

          Never since its inception, did our site receive as many visitors as during the last few months. This has led us to rethink our site   in a   manner that   allows un to better address the numerous inquiries we have been receiving.

          The merit for   the   sudden notoriety of our site goes   in great part to Amnesty International. This organization    has    relentlessly   targeted   this site claiming that its presence on the web misleads   people who are interested in   knowing more about the human rights situation in  Tunisia. That is an absurd charge   by an organisation whoes real   was   only   the desire  to  take  advantage    of the   international appeal   of new information technologies and to impress us maybe with its   cyber-propaganda tactics.

           In this whole unjustified contreversy about this site,  it   is  us and not Amnesty International  that  were  victimized  Trying    to    monopolize   the ''truth'', A.I did not hesitate to  manipulate  some  people's  minds  and try to set a few in the media against us. It has tried to convince the public  that  we  were diverting visitors from its site and hindering  the  free-flow  of  ideas  via  the  web. Strange and far-fetched charges. The word ''Amnesty'', wich we have used as part of our website address, refers to a widely used  humanitarian   concept   and  not  the  name  of  any  one  particular company or organization. Far from hindering the free flow of ideas, our site  has in fact served as a catalyst for discussion and debate over a number of vital issues.

           We were only wrong in assuming that the  truth is  never   absolute and that our point of view deserved  at  least  a  hearing. From the start, we did not feel and did not behave  as  if  we  had  anything  to  hide.  We   presented  the  true   identity  of those responsible for this site and   their   agenda. Our  honesty   however   earned   us  only continuous pressures and  various  forms  of harassment by an organization which had always claimed to be against any such pratices.

           A few months after the launch of   this  site,   we have no regrets. We think our initiative    was   a   real   eye-opener   to   many.   Our  sole  regret,   perhaps,  is   that Amnesty International was malicious enough to try to involve the Tunisian government in the creation and management of this site. While knowing very well that we are solely responsible for this  site,  Amnesty  International did not resist the temptation to smear the reputation of Tunisia and to add a cyber-feather to its cap.

           With  the  progress   that   Tunisia  has gained in new information technologies, Tunisian authorities never really needed our  modest contribution to present their views via the Internet.  In  fact,  these  authorities  whose documentations we are using in this website, were never consulted by us about  the  creation of this  website  nor about the choice  of  its address. In order not to continue  playing  in  the   hands   of   Amnesty International   and  taking  into consideration the wish of Tunisian authorities which did not want their  country  to  be  associated with a controversy arising from an individual initiative such as ours, we have decided to move our website to a new address: Rights-Tunisia.Org, starting March 3, 1999.

           We will   not  however  give  up  our  legitimate  right to free expression. At the opposite, we intend to enrich and further  develop  our  site. The experience of the last few months has convinced us, more  than  ever,  of  the  need  people have around the world to hear another point of view  about  Tunisia  than  that  promoted   by Amnesty International. The many messages of support we have received give us encouragement to go ahead in our effort aimed  at  refuting   the   allegations   made  by disinformation professionals.