HRW Letter to the President of Tunisia (Letter, June 1999)

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

1999 World Report

June 9, 1999

President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali
Palais Présidentiel
Carthage, Tunisia

Your Excellency,

Human Rights Watch is writing in response to a number of developments in Tunisia since last Friday.

These include, on the one hand, the abduction-style arrest of Moncef Marzouki, his unacknowledged detention for two days, and his being charged with offenses that stem directly from the exercise of his right to freedom of expression and association as the spokesperson of the National Council on Liberties in Tunisia (Conseil national pour les libertés en Tunisie, CNLT).

Related Material

Spokesman of New Rights Organization Arrested and Charged in Tunisia
HRW Press Release, 9 June 1999)

Tunisia: Human Rights Defenders at Risk
HRW Release, May 26, 1999

We welcome, on the other hand, the release since June 4 of at least four individuals who had been unjustly imprisoned for political reasons. According to our information, they were all freed conditionally before the expiration of their terms. Nizar Chaâri had been arrested in May 1998, while visiting home shortly after obtaining his doctorate from a university in Toulouse, France. After a year in detention, he was convicted on May 11 of "associating with a criminal gang," apparently on the basis of personal contacts he had allegedly maintained a decade earlier and meetings he had attended in France in exercise of his right to freedom of association and assembly. Saïda Charbti, Radhia Aouididi, and Rachida Ben Salem were arrested in 1995, 1996, and 1997 respectively while trying to leave the country "illegally" after authorities had rejected passport applications from each of them. There were no legitimate reasons for refusing them passports; none had been charged with an offense or placed under any judicially mandated restriction; their only "crime" seems to have been that the husbands of Ms. Ben Salem and Ms. Charbti and the fiancé of Ms. Aoudidi are political refugees residing in Europe, and that some of them have relatives who were associated with the banned Nahdha movement.

We are encouraged by the release of Nizar Chaâri, Rachida Ben Salem, Radhia Aouididi and Saïda Charbti and hope that any conditions attached to their release will be dropped and their full rights restored immediately, including their right to travel abroad.

With respect to Dr. Marzouki, Human Rights Watch views his arrest as a further effort to silence the CNLT, which has distinguished itself since its formation last December as an independent voice in defense of human rights in Tunisia and beyond. We wrote earlier to Minister of Interior Ali Chaouch concerning the arrest of CNLT Secretary-General Omar Mestiri on May 12. According to our information, Dr. Marzouki faces some of the same charges as Mr. Mestiri: maintaining an illegal association, defaming public institutions, spreading false news capable of disturbing public order, and distributing tracts capable of disturbing public order. Conviction on these counts could mean penalties exceeding ten years imprisonment. Mr. Mestiri and Dr. Marzouki have court hearings scheduled on July 3 and 5, respectively. We urge that all charges against both men be dropped unconditionally, that their passports be restored to them, and that all travel restrictions imposed on them be lifted.

We are particularly disturbed that Dr. Marzouki was taken into a custody in a manner that resembled an abduction more than an arrest consistent with the rule of law. At about 2:30 pm on June 5, he left an apartment building in downtown Tunis to make a phone call and did not return. It was learned only after his release two days later that upon leaving the building, he was confronted by four plainclothes police who did presented neither a warrant nor a subpoena and did not identify themselves. They transported him in an unmarked police car to the Ministry of Interior, where he remained until June 7.

We are aware that the CNLT has continued to issue statements despite the government's rejection in March of its application for legal status. However, we continue to believe that the CNLT's members have every right, under the international agreements Tunisia has ratified and pledged to uphold, to assemble and express themselves peacefully.

Tunisian authorities have often pointed to the existence of the independent Tunisian Human Rights League as one indication of the government's solicitude for human rights. We believe that this impression can only be strengthened by allowing all advocates of human rights, including those in the CNLT, to associate and speak freely in Tunisia.

Thank you for your consideration. We welcome your early comments.

Yours sincerely,
Hanny Megally
Executive Director

cc: Minister of Interior Ali Chaouch Ambassador Noureddine Mejdoub

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