“Fartattou means in the local Tunisian dialect butterfly, and the word is derived from Berber or Amazigh. This site is a mirror site to my blog Fikra (Thought), which has been blocked in Tunisia for four years,” explains Ben Gharbia.

“I have mentioned Fartattou in a previous post but did not have enough time of effort to complete the project I was hoping to achieve. Fartattou is not an exact replica of my blog Fikra but is its mirror or an original virtual copy which will enable Internet users in Tunisia to access the contents of my blog without using a proxy server to circumnavigate the block imposted by the cyber police there,” he adds.

“Fartattou is the second step I take to break the curfew on my blog, which started before this blog was set up as my blog on Blogger was banned too,” notes Ben Gharbia.

“After redesigning the site and selecting this simple template, which doesn't have photographs or scripts which can stop it from being seen in Tunisia, I am now able to ‘maneuver’ the Tunisian firewall – if only temporarily as they can ban Fartattou in Tunisia, just as they have done with Fikra. However, changing the address of the site, which I have discovered lately, has made it easier for me to break the ban imposed on my blog than writing actual posts. For this reason, I did not take this route before, as I wasn't convinced it would work. This time the case is the opposite.”