Freedom of Expression Criminalized in Tunisia

Alert Issued: October 26, 2006

Renowned Tunisian human rights leader, Dr. Moncef Marzouki, returned to his country from exile on October 21, but his return was met by the opening of a criminal investigation against him for “inciting the population to break the law,” and with a summons to appear before a judge.

Marzouki had appeared on Al-Jazeera television on October 14 where he objected to the “ruthless grip of an ever-worsening police state” that has ruled Tunisia for years. Al-Jazeera television, broadcast by satellite from Qatar, is popular in all parts of the Arab world.  He called on Tunisians to engage in peaceful civil resistance to demand long-denied basic rights and freedoms. 

It is these remarks that form the basis of the charges against him. The Tunisian government also closed its embassy in Qatar and withdrew its diplomats from Doha as a mark of its displeasure with the Al-Jazeera broadcast.

The new criminal investigation against Moncef Marzouki is a further intensification of the Tunisian government’s efforts to suppress peaceful dissent and criticism of its policies. Join with us in calling on the Tunisian authorities to annul the criminal investigation against Dr. Marzouki, and to cease the harassment, prosecution and imprisonment of nonviolent critics, including human rights activists.

Background

Dr. Moncef Marzouki is one of Tunisia’s leading public health experts.  He is also an internationally-celebrated human rights leader who has been honored around the world for his courageous, nonviolent advocacy of human rights.  In Tunisia, he has been the target of an extraordinary sustained campaign of official harassment and intimidation, which has resulted in him being imprisoned twice, in 1994 and 2000, dismissed from his job as a professor of public health, and hounded into exile in 2001.

For years the human rights community in Tunisia has been under sustained pressure from the government.  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 an excess of 90 percent of the vote in rigged elections. He was last re-elected, with a reported 95 percent of the vote, to a third five-year term, having amended the constitution in 2002 to enable him to serve beyond the permitted two terms. 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 threats and physical assault by state agents. Human rights organizations have also been restricted. Independent groups that are strongly critical of the government’s human rights practices, such as the National Committee for Liberties in Tunisia (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. Legally recognized groups, like the Tunisian League for Human Rights (LTDH), are also subject to severe official pressure and interference in their activities.

Dr. Marzouki served as president of the Tunisian League for Human Rights from 1989 to 1994. After extensive official obstruction of the LTDH, Marzouki was one of the founders of the still unrecognized CNLT, an organization designed to speak freely on human rights issues in Tunisia without governmental constraint, serving as its principle spokesperson from 1998 to 2001.

In 1994, Dr. Marzouki was imprisoned for four months having declared himself as a candidate in the presidential election. After his release, Dr. Marzouki was subjected to constant police surveillance, his freedom to travel was frequently blocked,and his telephone and fax lines were cut. In 2000 he was charged and convicted of “spreading false information intended to disturb the public order,” based on a paper about human rights violations in Tunisia that he released at a conference in Morocco.  He was sentenced to one year imprisonment and was released, after serving nine months of his sentence, in September 2001.

Dr. Marzouki’s return from exile is a notable event and the government’s reaction, in launching a new criminal investigation and lodging a formal protest with the government of Qatar over the Al-Jazeera broadcast of his remarks, demonstrates the seriousness with which it has been taken by the authorities.

The Tunisian government’s criminalization of nonviolent advocacy of human rights is a violation of its obligations in international human rights law. Please call for the annulment of this new criminal investigation against Dr. Marzouki.

Sample Letter

Minister M. Béchir Tekkari  
Minister of Justice and Human Rights  
Ministry of Justice and Human Rights  
31 Av. Bab Benat 1006  
Tunis, La Kasbah, Tunisie  
Fax: + 216 71 568 106  

Dear Minister M. Béchir Tekkari:

I would like to express my serious concern about the criminal investigation that was recently opened against Dr. Moncef Marzouki for “inciting the population to break the law.” These charges stem from his October 14 appearance on Al-Jazeera television, during which he voiced criticism of Tunisia’s government and called on Tunisian citizens to engage in peaceful civil resistance to demand basic rights and freedoms. Dr. Marzouki’s remarks to Al-Jazeera fall squarely within his rights to peaceful freedom of expression and opinion, and should in no way form the basis of criminal charges against him.

This is not the first time that Dr. Marzouki has been the target of official persecution as a result of his legitimate activities as a human rights defender. He has been the target of sustained government harassment and intimidation, including imprisonment in 1994 and 2000, and dismissal from his job as a professor of public health.

According to the 1998 UN 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."  Tunisian human rights defenders such as Dr. Marzouki should be recognized by the government, and their important work should be supported rather than criminalized.

As you know, Dr. Marzouki recently returned to Tunisia from exile on October 21. This is a notable event in Tunisia and within the international community, and it does Tunisia a great disservice to initiate a baseless criminal investigation against him immediately upon his return. I strongly urge that you annul the criminal investigation against Dr. Marzouki and end the official harassment and persecution of legitimate and peaceful human rights defenders in Tunisia.

Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter, which I will continue to follow closely.

cc.