Six-month jail term for Tunisian journalist

By Tarek Amara

TUNIS (Reuters) - A Tunisian court sentenced journalist Taoufik Ben Brik to six months in prison for assault on Thursday after a trial he said was designed to silence his criticism of the government.

The trial of Ben Brik, a virulent critic of Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, has put the North African country's human rights record under renewed scrutiny, including from former colonial ruler France.

"We regret this decision and repeat our support for press freedom in Tunisia as everywhere in the world," French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said in Paris.

Ben Brik, 49, was arrested last month and charged with beating up a woman during an argument in the street. Officials have denied that the case is political.

Campaign group Reporters Without Borders said after the verdict it would continue to press the Tunisian government to release Ben Brik immediately.

"We are disappointed because the only possible outcome in this case should have been Ben Brik's release" the group's secretary-general, Jean-Francois Juillard, told Reuters.

"But nevertheless we are relieved that it is six months and not four or five years ... It seems the international pressure worked in Ben Brik's favour," he said.

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