• Human Rights in Tunisia
    Following the ouster of President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011, an Islamist party won a plurality of seats in the following election. The first draft of a new constitution upholds several key human rights but also undermines women’s rights and freedom of expression. Tunisians now enjoy a greater degree of freedom of assembly, expression, and association than in the past. However, the protection of human rights has been hampered by the failure to make the judiciary more independent. The executive branch has attempted to control the media, and authorities fail to investigate physical assaults allegedly committed by religious fundamentalists.
  • © 2011 Human Rights Watch
    Tunisia: Release TV Station Director
    Tunisia’s new justice minister should ensure the immediate release of Sami Fehri, the director of the privately owned Attounissia TV channel.
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Tunisia

  • Tunisia: Release TV Station Director
    Apr 12, 2013
    Tunisia’s new justice minister should ensure the immediate release of Sami Fehri, the director of the privately owned Attounissia TV channel.
  • Tunisia: New Law Should Create Independent Judges
    Mar 28, 2013
    Tunisia’s National Constituent Assembly should commit to the creation of an independent judiciary free from government interference. The assembly will consider a proposed law to establish a Temporary Judicial Council (TJC) later this week, which would replace the discredited Supreme Judicial Council as the primary body responsible for the functioning of the judicial system. The proposed law, although an improvement on a 2012 predecessor, still raises concerns about the extent that ministers would continue to have influence on the disciplining of judges and other issues affecting their independence from government.
  • Tunisia: Repeal Criminal Defamation Law
    Mar 20, 2013
    New criminal defamation charges against a university professor and a blogger for allegedly libeling public officials underscore the need to end the criminalization of defamation in Tunisia. They face up to two years in prison for publicly exposing alleged wrongdoing of the minister of foreign affairs and the general rapporteur of the constitution at the National Constituent Assembly.
  • Tunisia: Investigate Assassination of Opposition Figure
    Feb 6, 2013
    Tunisian authorities should ensure that those responsible for the assassination on February 6, 2013 of the prominent opposition political figure Chokri Belaïdare brought to justice. Tunisian authorities should immediately investigate the circumstances of the killing and prosecute those responsible.
  • Tunisia: Slow Reform Pace Undermines Rights
    Feb 6, 2013
    Human rights protection remains stymied in Tunisia a year after the election of a new National Constituent Assembly.The major concerns are the slow pace in reforming security operations and the judiciary, the failure to investigate and prosecute physical assaults by people apparently affiliated with violent groups, and the prosecution of nonviolent speech offenses.
  • Tunisia: Draft Constitution Still Slights Rights
    Jan 23, 2013
    The Tunisian National Constituent Assembly (NCA) should modify articles in the new draft constitution that threaten human rights, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to the assembly members. The provisions that cause concern relate to the status of international conventions ratified by Tunisia, judicial immunity for the head of state, lack of sufficient guarantees for the independence of the judiciary, and ambiguous formulations that could threaten rights and freedoms.
  • Letter to the Tunisian National Constituent Assembly on the Draft Constitution
    Jan 22, 2013
    Human Rights Watch, an independent, nongovernmental organization, is writing to urge you to amend those articles of the second draft of the constitution that risk undermining human rights, including a broad formulation of permissible limitations on rights and freedoms, weak guarantees for the independence of the judiciary, immunity for the head of state, and discrimination based on religion. The National Constituent Assembly made this draft public on December 14, 2012.
  • Tunisia: Stop Undermining Judicial Decision
    Dec 21, 2012
    Tunisia’s justice minister should ensure the immediate release of Sami Fehri, the director of the privately owned Attounissia TV channel. Fehri is being held despite a decision by the highest court in Tunisia on November 28, 2012, to quash his indictment and detention order
  • Letter to the Ministry of Justice regarding the dismissal of judges
    Dec 20, 2012
  • Tunisia: Riot Police Fire Birdshot at Protesters
    Dec 1, 2012
    Clashes between police and protesters in the northern city of Siliana on November 27 and 28, 2012, injuring more than 210 people, highlight the urgent need to reform Tunisia’s security forces. The government should ensure that the announced independent commission of inquiry investigates any excessive use of force by the riot police during the protests.
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