Belhassen Handous

Belhassen Handous was born in 1980, in La Marsa, a coastal, northern suburb of Tunis.
Currently the acting head of Reporter’s Without Borders (RWB) office in Tunisia, Belhassen’s commitment to freedom of press was not a coincidence. Prior to joining RWB in January 2012, Belhassen had worked with several other international NGOs in post-revolutionary Tunisia. As the Programs Coordinator at the Oristiadi Foundation in Tunis, he worked with youth involved in artisanal activities. As the Coordination Assistant with the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Foundation in Tunisia, Belhassen also worked with youth, and coordinated among civil society activists to develop their projects. Belhassen was also an observer in the Media Monitoring during the Democratic Transition, a project sponsored by the International Media support, and in collaboration with the Tunisian Association of Democratic Women.
Albeit the unmistakable Mediterranean charm of La Marsa, Belhassen has always been fascinated by traveling and learning about others’ experiences, both locally and internationally. During his high school and higher education years, Belhassen was a freelance collaborator in a number of cultural events in Tunisia. By participating in theater and cinema festivals across the country, Belhassen explored Tunisia through his own, and others’, lenses. Belhassen also spent a total of three years in France and Spain, where he pursued a master’s degree in prehistory and archeology.
When he’s not defending the right for free Tunisian media, or learning about the history of mankind, Belhassen participates in international photography festivals, and works on his own film production, Hecho en Casa, an audiovisual synthesis of his experiences and surroundings during his years in Spain and Tunisia.