Tunisian journalists fear jail again as freedoms erode

Arab Spring toppling of autocrat boosted media freedom Saied's seizure of extra powers threatens press progress 'We pay the price every day,' says prominent journalist Tunisia drops to 137th in global press freedom index By Tarek Amara TUNIS, Oct 14 (Reuters) — Journalists in Tunisia who enjoyed a burst of press freedom after the 2011 Arab Spring are once again looking over their shoulders in the knowledge their work may land them in prison. The 2011 overthrow of autocrat Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali unshackled Tunisia's media, but a decade later President Kais Saied's seizure of sweeping powers began eroding those gains. Now, independent media face a full-on crackdown, rights groups say, and Tunisia has tumbled more than 50 places in the past five years to 137th in Reporters Without Borders' press freedom index. "We are living in a grey area, as if we were in a shifting minefield, and we pay the price every day," said Aymen Rezgui, editor-in-chief of independent outlet Nawaat, reflecting on how at least limits were clear pre-2011 versus current uncertainty. Around him, in a small garden in Tunis, about half a dozen colleagues sit smoking, trading jokes and discussing investigations the