Tunis, 29 October (AKI) - A Tunisian journalist, Salim Bukhazir was admitted to hospital after allegedly being beaten up by three thugs near his home in the capital. He said his assailants told him he had "offended" Tunisian president Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali's wife, the Quds Bars news agency reported on Thursday.

Bukhazir told Quds Bars the thugs threatened him and beat him up and said he believed they had been sent by the Tunisian government to intimidate him.

He said the thugs abducted him late on Wednesday in the capital's Bardu district and took him to an unknown location before threatening him with a knife and beating him around the head and body.

Bukhazir received hospital treatment for a fractured nose, swellings to several parts of his body and damage to his left eye.

He said his assailants told him he had disrespected Ben Ali's wife Leila al-Tarabulusi in comments he made to the BBC about a book about her, 'The Queen of Carthage' which was recently published in France.

The book describes the considerable power wielded by Tunisia's First Lady and her family.

Bukhazir spent eight months in jail last year for assaulting several policemen. He has always denied the charges, and described his arrest as an act of revenge for several articles he wrote describing corruption in Tunisia.

Ben Ali, who has been in power since 1987, won a fifth term in office in multi-party elections in 2009. Human rights groups and the opposition criticised the polls as unfair.

Official results gave him ninety per cent of the vote and his party also won the majority of seats in the parliament.

Although freedom of opinion and expression is guaranteed by the Tunisian constitution, the government tightly controls the press and broadcasting. Discussion of corruption and human rights in the media is taboo.