In Tunisia, many are those who wish to see the Al Jazeera office close. A request was filed to this end on March 7, 2016. Among those that demanded the exit of the media from Tunisia is Belgacem Ayari, member of the executive committee of Tunisian General Labor Union (UGTT). He asked Prime Minister Habib Essid, on Facebook, to “immediately close” the Qatari TV news office. There is also the journalist and chief editor of Elssahafa, Zied El Hani, who posted the following comment: “Closing the Al Jazeera office is a matter of national security and the worst is yet to come…”

On social networks, many other Tunisians demanded that Al Jazeera exits Tunisia. Some even went to the extent of proposing that a protest “against the hostile channel” be organized. On Facebook, the “For the close of the office of Al jazeera” page was created.   

At the root of all the anger is a post by Al Jazeera’s reporter Fatima Triki on her Facebook profile. She wrote: “What kind of fodder do they feed you?” referring to a selfie taken by Tunisian soldiers during the Ben Guerdane clashes near the Lybian border. In the selfie, the Tunisian solders posed in front of the bodies of two terrorists, one of which was recognizable.

The picture was criticized as morbid. This in no way however prevented Triki’s post to be considered an insult by many. She was accused of complicity with terrorists.

On Nessma TV, presenter Borhène Bsaies said the reporter was stupid, for in her post she was comparing Tunisian soldiers to animals. The post and picture were later deleted from the reporter’s Facebook profile with what seemed like ironic apologies. She said: “I took off the selfie with the bodies. I apologize for not seeing the psychological victory on the picture! And all that is attached. You are right… You have won (…). This fueled another wave of anger that washed Tunisian internet users. So, the Facebook profile was finally deactivated.

Subsequent to the deactivation, using a new Facebook account, the Al Jazeera reporter said she “never threatened the Tunisian army” and claimed her account had been hacked. An apology which fell in deaf ears as Tunisians now consider Al Jazeera a “terrorist media”.