• Tunisia: Reform Legal Framework to Try Crimes of the Past
    Press release
    May 3, 2012
    Tunisia’s first torture case to go to trial following the ouster of President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali highlights the need to address inadequacies in the legal framework for trying torture crimes. Many other cases of torture are likely to be filed against former President Ben Ali and his associates, as other victims step forward to file complaints.
  • Tunisia: Review Legal Framework for Protests
    Press release
    Apr 12, 2012
    The interior minister’s decision to reauthorize peaceful demonstrations along the capital’s main thoroughfare is a positive move but is not sufficient to protect the right to assemble.
  • Tunisia: Seven Years in Jail for Mocking Islam
    Press release
    Apr 6, 2012

    The seven-year prison terms handed down on March 28, 2012 to two Tunisians for publishing writings perceived as offensive to Islam are examples of the need to repeal repressive laws dating to the Ben Ali era.

  • Tunisia: Solidify Rights Protections in Constitution
    Press release
    Mar 19, 2012
    Tunisia’s National Constituent Assembly (NCA) should draft a constitution that protects human rights. The constitution should make international human rights treaties part of domestic law and avoid overly restrictive clauses that qualify the rights guaranteed by those treaties.
  • Letter to the Tunisian National Constituent Assembly Regarding the New Constitution
    Letter
    Mar 19, 2012
    Tunisian citizens have strongly expressed their demand for a new constitution that will prevent the abusive practices of the old regime. Human Rights Watch urges the National Constituent Assembly to be attentive to such demands in drafting the new constitution.
  • Tunisia: Free Speech Double Standards
    Commentary
    Mar 6, 2012

    In Tunisia, the flag of freedom of expression has often been waved when politically convenient and forgotten when it isn’t. 

  • Tunisia: Newspaper Director Free After Week in Jail
    Press release
    Feb 23, 2012

    The decision to free a detained newspaper director pending trial was a positive move, but pretrial detention should be the exception rather than the rule. A Tunisian judge on February 23, 2012, granted provisional release to the director of the national daily newspaper Attounsiyya after he spent a week in pretrial detention. 

  • Tunisia: “Persepolis” Trial a Setback for Free Expression
    Press release
    Jan 25, 2012

    The trial of a television director on morality charges for airing a controversial animated film is a disturbing turn for the nascent Tunisian democracy. On January 23, 2012, a Tunis court announced that Nabil Karoui, director of Nessma TV, will go on trial on April 19 for airing the French animated movie “Persepolis.”

  • Tunisia: Dismantle Repressive Ben-Ali-Era Laws
    Press release
    Dec 17, 2011

    Tunisia’s Constituent Assembly should urgently revise laws to ensure freedom of speech and the independence of the judiciary, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Legal reform in those two areas is key to safeguarding the human rights of all Tunisians, Human Rights Watch said.

  • Tunisia: Fundamentalists Disrupting College Campuses
    Press release
    Dec 9, 2011
    The Tunisian authorities should protect individual and academic freedoms from acts of violence and other threats by religiously motivated groups acting on university campuses. Both the university authorities and the state security forces will need to cooperate to protect the rights to security and education of students and faculty.