|
||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||
|
|||||||||
 |
 |
|
|
||||||||||||
 
 Tunisian Government Should Immediately End Harassment of Human Rights Defenders (10/31/07)   HRF's Julia Fromholz analyzes the regime and the US government’s relationship with it on the 20th anniversary of the coup (11/7/07) 
| |
|
|
Alert Issued: March 1, 2007 UPDATE: On July 24, 2007, on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of the republican system in Tunisia, President Ben Ali ordered the release of Mohamed Abbou on parole. HRF welcomes the initiative to release Mr. Abbou and hopes it will be followed by other positive gestures toward Tunisia’s human rights movement by the government. On March 1, 2007, Tunisian human rights lawyer and activist Mohamed Abbou will complete his second year in prison. Abbou’s supporters around the world have declared an international day of protest to call for his release from prison. He is held in harsh conditions and has suffered beatings by prison guards and other inmates. Abbou’s wife, Samia Abbou, is being persistently harassed by the security forces as a result of her struggle for the release of her husband. Last December, while on her way to visit her husband with other human rights defenders, she was brutally assaulted and beaten by a group of forty men right in front of several police officers, who looked on without intervening. Mohamed Abbou is serving a three-and-a-half year sentence for exposing torture in Tunisia in postings to a blog, and for comparing the treatment of prisoners in Tunisia to conditions in Abu Ghraib Prison in Iraq.
Background Human Rights First is supporting the March 1, 2007 International Day for the Release of Mohamed Abbou. On this day, in Tunisia and all over the world, actions will be taken and activities will be organized to demand the immediate and unconditional release of Mohamed Abbou. Mohamed Abbou’s imprisonment is emblematic of the methods used by the government to silence human rights activists in Tunisia and to prevent them from carrying out their activities. Mohamed Abbou is a lawyer who has devoted his legal practice to defending on a pro bono basis those who are being persecuted for peacefully expressing their opinions. He was formerly the director of the Association of Young Lawyers of Tunisia and is a member of the International Association for the Support of Political Prisoners (AISPP) and the National Committee for Liberties in Tunisia (CNLT), an independent human rights organization whose activists are frequently harassed and threatened by the police and government officials. After being sentenced to three and a half years in prison following an unfair trial in April 2005, Mohammed Abbou was imprisoned in Kef, a town that is more than 170 kilometers (100 miles) from his family home in Tunis. This is in itself a punitive measure that makes it difficult for his family to visit him. In addition, in Kef he is held in a cell with common criminals who continuously harass him, apparently at the prison authorities’ instigation. According to family members who have visited him in prison, he has been kicked and punched by prison guards and denied medical attention and access to books. The prison authorities have disrupted visits by his family members, including his wife and young daughter. On March 11, 2006, in response to the harsh treatment, harassment and his unfair imprisonment, Abbou went on hunger strike for several weeks, which led to a serious deterioration in his heath. Mohamed Abbou’s wife, Samia Abbou, has become increasingly outspoken in leading appeals for her husband’s release and in publicly denouncing the harsh treatment he is enduring in prison. She regularly organizes, with the support of Tunisian human rights groups, protests outside the prison in Kef and recently went on hunger strike. As a result of her struggle, Ms. Abbou is persistently harassed by the security forces. For example, on December 7, 2006, Ms. Abbou and three prominent human rights activists who were accompanying her were violently assaulted by a group of men in plain clothes while the police looked on without intervening. On that day, Ms. Abbou and her companions, human rights activist Moncef Marzouki, journalist Slim Boukhdir, and human rights lawyer Samir Ben Amar, were on their way to visit Mohamed Abbou when a group of about forty men attacked them near Kef prison and brutally beat the four of them right in front of several police officers who remained impassive. Since coming to power in a bloodless coup in 1987, President Zine El Abdine Ben Ali has failed to deliver on initial pledges to promote democracy and the rule of law. His rule has become increasingly authoritarian. No serious political opposition is permitted to form. The ruling party controls the parliament and the President himself routinely wins re-election by gaining in excess of 90% of the vote in rigged elections. The judiciary is manipulated by the executive branch and independent judges have been removed from the bench. The press and broadcast media are tightly controlled, and the authorities make vigorous efforts to restrict internet communications and limit access to websites with independent news about Tunisia. Human rights advocates have been a particular target of repression, with individual activists targeted for prosecution on fabricated charges and subject to arbitrary travel restrictions, physical assault by state agents and defamation campaigns in the media. Human rights organizations have also been restricted. Independent groups that are critical of the government’s human rights practices, such as the CNLT and the Tunisian Center for Judicial Independence (CTIJ), have been refused legal recognition and their activities are habitually obstructed and restricted by the authorities. Even legally recognized groups, like the Tunisian League for Human Rights (LTDH), are also subject to severe judicial harassment and repeated interference in their activities including the blockage of foreign grants to the organization and the sabotage of its meetings. Foreign human rights activists who visit Tunisia are also targeted by the security agents who habitually subject them to strong surveillance and follow them continually. On May 21, 2006, the Tunisian authorities expelled Yves Steiner, a member of the Swiss Section of Amnesty International, just a day after he criticized the government’s human rights practices. Mohamed Abbou’s detention was carried out in a manner that violated procedural safeguards and Tunisia’s obligations under international law. He was abducted from the street in Tunis on March 1, 2005. The next day he appeared before a judge on a warrant that was backdated to September 2004. As if to show contempt for procedure, the warrant was actually dated September 31, 2004, a date that does not exist on the calendar. Nonetheless, his detention was upheld by the judge. In November 2005 the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention concluded that Mohammed Abbou has been subjected to arbitrary detention in violation of Tunisia’s obligations as a State Party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Sample Letter His Excellency Mr. Zine El Abidine Ben Ali Your Excellency, I am writing to express my deep concern about the continued imprisonment of lawyer and human rights activist Mohamed Abbou and the persistent harassment and physical assaults against his wife, Ms. Samia Abbou. Mohamed Abbou was sentenced on April 28, 2005 to three and a half years imprisonment, following an unfair trial, for publishing statements “likely to disturb public order” and for “defaming the judicial process.” As you are aware, the charges against Mr. Abbou referred to an online article he wrote in September 2004 comparing the torture and ill-treatment endured by political prisoners in Tunisia with that suffered by U.S. detainees at Abu Ghraib Prison in Iraq. Mr. Abbou is currently being held in a prison in Kef, more than 170 km from his home, which in itself is an unnecessary form of punishment that restricts family visits. In addition, he is held in a cell with common criminals who continuously harass him, apparently at the prison authorities’ instigation. According to family members who have visited him in prison, he has been kicked and punched by prison guards and denied medical attention and access to books. The prison authorities have disrupted visits by his family members, including his wife and young daughter. Furthermore, the Tunisian security services have subjected Ms. Samia Abbou to continuous harassment to punish her for denouncing the conditions of her husband’s detention and deter her from pursuing her peaceful struggle for his release. On December 7, 2006, Ms. Abbou and three prominent human rights activists who were accompanying her were violently assaulted by a group of men in plain clothes while the police looked on without intervening. On that day, Ms Abbou and her companions, Mr. Moncef Marzouki, Mr. Slim Boukhdir, and Mr. Samir Ben Amar, were on their way to visit Mohamed Abbou when a group of about forty men attacked them near Kef prison and brutally beat the four of them right in front of several police officers who remained impassive. Your Excellency, the imprisonment of Mohamed Abbou for exercising his right to freedom of expression and the violent harassment of Samia Abbou to deter her from pursuing her non-violent struggle to free her husband are serious violations of Tunisia’s Constitution and its obligations under international law. The Tunisian Constitution clearly states in Article 8 that "the liberties of opinion, expression, the press, publication, assembly, and association are guaranteed and exercised within the conditions defined by the law." Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), ratified by Tunisia in 1969, states that "everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference," and adds that "everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers..." According to the 1998 U.N. Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, all persons have the right "freely to publish, impart or disseminate to others views, information and knowledge on all human rights and fundamental freedoms." As a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council, Tunisia should be a model in its support for human rights defenders and their activities. Instead, Tunisia has today one of the world’s poorest records with respect to its treatment of the human rights community and Mohamed Abbou’s case is only aggravating this situation. Your Excellency, I strongly urge you to immediately and unconditionally release Mohamed Abbou from prison. I also call on you to intervene without delay to put an end to the harassment of Samia Abbou and make sure that those responsible for her physical assault are held accountable. Thank you for your attention to these pressing matters. I will continue to monitor this case closely.
CC: Hi Excellency Mr. Mohamed Ghannouchi His Excellency Mr. Bechir Tekkari 1515 Massachusetts Avenue, NW Washington DC 20005 Telephone: (202) 862-1850 Fax: (202) 862-1858 Emai: At.washington@verizon.net |
|||||||||
Release Mohamed Abbou, Jailed Human Rights Lawyer in Tunisia 