A renowned Tunisian blogger who was imprisoned during the country's Jasmine Revolution announced Tuesday his resignation from the country's interim government, apparently in protest over the resumption of internet censorship, dpa reported.
Slim Amadou, 23, minister for sport and youth, announced his decision on the Twitter social networking site.
"I confirm, I have resigned. Only the administrative formalities remain," he wrote. He did not give any explanation.
However, on Monday he had told the country's private Express FM he intended to resign, after authorities barred four users' accounts on social networking site Facebook.
The government was acting on the orders of a military tribunal, which ordered the accounts closed after the four Facebook users allegedly accused army chief of staff Rachid Ammar of plotting a coup.
The incident is the first case of internet censorship since the ouster of autocratic former president Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali in mid-January.
Ben Ali barred internet accounts and imprisoned Amadou and other cyber-dissidents in a failed attempt to defuse the mass protests that eventually forced him from power on January 14.
His resignation comes as a summit of leading internet developers in Paris - dubbed the e-G8 - was discussing the importance of the internet as a tool of liberation in the Arab world.
...