Lina Ben Mhenni is an activist and the author of the popular blog A Tunisian Girl. Based in Tunis, she reported from all across her country during the 2010-2011 revolution. She risked her safety as one of the only Tunisians to criticize the repressive government openly on international broadcasts before the Jasmine Revolution began. Often described as one of the bravest bloggers in the world, much of Ben Mhenni’s writing focuses on freedom of expression and the rights of women and students. Currently, she writes about the incomplete state of Tunisia’s revolution and campaigns for continued reform and democracy. She is the author of two books published in several languages.

About

Ben Mhenni is a 27-year-old cyber activist and teaching assistant of linguistics at the University of Tunis. Her influential blog, which was censored under Zine El Abidine Ben Ali’s dictatorship, was one of the most revealing and scathing criticisms of Tunisian society, focusing on issues like women’s rights and press freedom. After unrest began in Tunisia in December 2010, Ben Mhenni began traveling across the country to take photos and video footage of the protests and people who were attacked in the ensuing government crackdowns. She visited local hospitals and took pictures of those injured or killed by the police. In an interview with The Daily Beast she asserted, “There are no journalists doing this. And moreover, the official media started to tell lies about what was happening." Her images served as proof of the regime’s brutality, and Ben Mhenni became one of the most prominent bloggers in the Arab world.

Ben Mhenni has elected to continue blogging under her real name. “Even if you use a nickname, they can reach you," she says. “You give an example to other people. They say, ‘Look, she’s not afraid.’" Acknowledging that she might inspire others to action, Ben Mhenni is careful to balance the importance of free speech online with the practical considerations of localized protest. She says, “I’m against the term ‘Facebook Revolution.’ We shouldn’t forget the martyrs and people who were injured, the mothers who lost their children and took to the streets again and again until Ben Ali fled. If the revolution had only been on the internet, it would never have had the same result. It was a combination of the fight on the ground and the fight on the internet."