Slim Amamou ( ( ar, سليم عمامو, Slīm ‘Amāmū; born 1977) is a Tunisian blogger and a former Secretary of State for Sport and Youth in the transitional Tunisian government of early 2011. He resigned from the role in the week of 25 May 2011 in protest of the transitional government's censorship of several websites.

Early life and education

Amamou studied at the

University of Sousse The University of Sousse ( ar, جامعة سوسة) is a public university in Sousse, Tunisia. History The University of Sousse was created in 2004 from a division of the University of the Center, which had been created in 1991 from the Univers ...

.Slim Amamou's profile at LinkedIn
He is a

blogger A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...

and author of

ReadWriteWeb ReadWrite (originally ReadWriteWeb or RWW) is a Web technology blog launched in 2003. RW covers Web 2.0 and Web technology in general, and provides industry news, reviews, and analysis. Founded by Richard MacManus, Technorati ranked ReadWriteWe ...

France.

Political career

He protested against censorship in Tunisia and organized a demonstration on 22 May 2010.Isabelle Mandraud, « Au gouvernement, Slim Amamou, 33 ans, conserve ses réflexes de blogueur », ''Le Monde'', cahier spécial ''Tunisie : le sursaut d'une nation'', 21 janvier 2011, p. V He was arrested on 6 January 2011 during the protests that led to the

Tunisian Revolution The Tunisian Revolution, also called the Jasmine Revolution, was an intensive 28-day campaign of civil resistance. It included a series of street demonstrations which took place in Tunisia, and led to the ousting of longtime president Zine El ...

, alongside others including Azyz Amami. The Anonymous hacktivist group had led attacks on the Tunisian government's websites, and Amamou was held for five days by the state security forces under the suspicion of having collaborated with the hackers. Following a mass internet campaign and protest, Amamou and other bloggers were released from government custody. Amamou was later released, and, following the flight of

Zine El Abidine Ben Ali Zine El Abidine Ben Ali ( ar, زين العابدين بن علي, translit=Zayn al-'Ābidīn bin 'Alī; 3 September 1936 – 19 September 2019), commonly known as Ben Ali ( ar, بن علي) or Ezzine ( ar, الزين), was a Tunisian politician ...

, a

national unity government A national unity government, government of national unity (GNU), or national union government is a broad coalition government consisting of all parties (or all major parties) in the legislature, usually formed during a time of war or other nat ...

was formed. Amamou was invited to become Secretary of State for Sport and Youth ( ar, كاتب دولة للشباب والرياضة, french: Secrétaire d'État à la Jeunesse et aux Sports) in that government on 17 January 2011. When he assumed the role he told television channel

France 2 France 2 () is a French public national television channel. It is part of the state-owned France Télévisions group, along with France 3, France 4 and France 5. France Télévisions also participates in Arte and Euronews. Since 3:20 CET on 7 A ...

that he would resign from his role if the government started to interfere with the internet, such as using

internet censorship Internet censorship is the legal control or suppression of what can be accessed, published, or viewed on the Internet. Censorship is most often applied to specific internet domains (such as Wikipedia.org) but exceptionally may extend to all Int ...

. He received considerable criticism online for joining the transitional government, particularly from fellow bloggers and internet activists. In his role as Secretary of State for Youth and Sports, he was subordinate to the Minister for Youth and Sports,

Mohamed Aloulou Mohamed Aloulou () is a Tunisian cardiologist and politician. He was Minister of Youth and Sports from 17 January - 1 July 2011 in the second cabinet of Mohamed Ghannouchi and continued in the same role in the following Essebsi Cabinet. Biogra ...

. On 29 March 2011, he was expelled from the Tunisian Pirate Party for joining the transitional national unity government. He later joined a rival party, the Pirate Party of Tunisia, instead. On the week of May 25, he resigned from his post in protest of the transitional government's censorship of several websites at the request of the

Tunisian Army The Tunisian Land Army ( ar, جيش البر التونسي, Jaîsh el-Barr et'Tunsi, french: Armée de terre tunisienne) is the ground component of the Tunisian Armed Forces . The Land Forces Command is located in Bizerte. The TAF itself was cr ...

Political positions

He supports the legalisation of cannabis in Tunisia. He is an advocate for

network neutrality Network neutrality, often referred to as net neutrality, is the principle that Internet service providers (ISPs) must treat all Internet communications equally, offering users and online content providers consistent rates irrespective of co ...

and opposes

References

External links

* Amamou's blog
NoMemorySpace

Interview with Amamou
broadcast on

Radio France Internationale Radio France Internationale, usually referred to as RFI, is the state-owned international radio broadcaster of France. With 37.2 million listeners in 2014, it is one of the most-listened-to international radio stations in the world, along with ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Amamou, Slim Tunisian bloggers Tunisian activists Tunisian Pirate Party politicians Living people Prisoners and detainees of Tunisia Government ministers of Tunisia 1977 births People of the Tunisian Revolution University of Sousse alumni

Early life and education

Political career

Political positions

See also

References

External links