Tunis court postpones hearing in case against legitimate SNJT board

A Tunis court postponed on Friday its hearing in the case filed by pro-government journalists to evict the democratically-elected board of SNJT from the this syndicate's office. The court ruling might be issued on Monday or Tuesday, according to independent journalists in Tunis.
Backed by the ruling Democratic Constitutional Rally and the state-run media, the pro-government journalists held an illegal conference on August 15 and "elected" a puppet board to replace the democratically-elected board headed by Neji Bghouri. Under SNJT statutes, Bghouri and his independent colleagues were planning to hold a conference to elect a new board on 12 September. But it is unlikely they could be allowed to use any conference room in a hotel or any public venue without an authorization from Tunisian authorities. SNJT has been targeted mainly for deciding in 2008 not to side with any presidential candidate in the October presidential election and for issuing in May on WPFD a report highlighting the deterioration of the plight of the press under President Ben Ali. The SNJT emerged in January 2008 from the ashes of the Tunisian Association of Journalists. In 2005, Tunisian authorities prevented a group of an independent journalists from establishing an independent syndicate.