Eight Tunisian journalists have ended a hunger strike over government interference in their Dar Essabah press group, ahead of talks with the authorities, one of their colleagues said on Monday. “The negotiations will start tomorrow afternoon. They stopped the hunger strike to see what happens in the talks,” Essia Atrous, an employee of Arabic-language daily Essabah, told AFP. The hunger strike, begun on October 1, was the latest protest against the appointment in August of Lotfi Touati, the controversial new director of Dar Essabah, by Tunisia’s ruling Islamist party Ennahda. The talks on Tuesday will bring together representatives of the editorial staff at Dar Essabah, which owns Essabah and French-language newspaper Le Temps, Social Affairs Minister Khalil Zaouia and trade union leaders. Journalists and editors have accused the Islamist-led government of seeking to control the editorial content of several public media groups, including by appointing new directors without consulting their staff.
