Popular Tunisian TV show suspended over host’s rape comments

Popular Tunisian TV show suspended over host’s rape comments
The host of 'Andi Mankolik' featured a 17-year-old distraught rape victim and belittled her ordeal before suggesting she marries her rapist and asks for forgiveness.
2 min read
20 October, 2016
Alaa Chebbi appeared to belittle multiple alleged rapes of the distraught teenager [Twitter]
Tunisia's broadcasting watchdog on Wednesday ordered the suspension for three months of a popular television show after its host suggested a young rape victim marry her attacker.

The High Independent Authority of the Audio-visual Commission said that Friday's show "I have something to tell you" broadcast by the private channel El Hiwar Ettounsi failed to respect the girl's dignity.

"She was a victim of sexual aggression by three relatives from the time she was 14 and she was pregnant... at the time of the broadcast," the authority said in a statement.

The host, Alaa Chebbi, "cast doubt over the rape" and "held the child responsible for what happened," the statement said, adding that the girl had been presented on air as being 18 when she was in fact 17.

The watchdog said Chebbi suggested that the girl "marry her rapist... which constitutes incitement to impunity" and denounced the negative psychological impact it would have on her.

The programme, Andi Mankolik, sparked an outcry in Tunisia after Chebbi appeared to belittle multiple alleged rapes of the distraught teenager featured in the show with her brother.

"Principally you are the one to be blamed for. You committed the mistake," the host remarked during the episode.

"You are pregnant out of wedlock, so you should ask forgiveness from your father," Chebbi said before suggesting that she should marry her rapist.

Chebbi's comments sparked widespread outrage as viewers took to social media to urge for the boycott of the show and a petition was launched calling to sue the host.

News site Nawaat denounced Chebbi, describing him as a "a symbol of a delinquent" TV host and said he was "flouting... the universal principles of human rights".

Agencies contributed to this report.

Tags