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Appendix B. Letter to Béchir Tekkari, Tunisian minister of justice

July 31, 2007

Béchir Tekkari
Minister of Justice
Ministry of Justice
31 Blvd. Bab Benat
1006 Tunis, Tunisia

Via facsimile: +216 71 568 106
                  +216 71 561 440

Dear Mr. Minister:

We are writing to request information regarding Abdallah Amor Ali al-Hajji and Lotfi Lagha, the two Tunisian detainees in Guantanamo whom the United States delivered to Tunisia on June 18, 2007. Human Rights Watch is closely monitoring both the situation in Guantanamo and the fate of detainees who are released from there. We have published a report on Russian detainees in Guantanamo who were returned to Russia (online at http://www.hrw.org/reports/2007/russia0307/), and we intend to publish a report in the very near future on the situation of Tunisians who are returned to Tunisia.

Please find below a list of questions we wish to address to your ministry. We will reflect in our report any pertinent information you provide us in response to any of these questions, or in relation to the plight of Guantanamo detainees, by Monday, August 6.

Discussions with the United States

  1. Has the US expressed concern to Tunisian authorities about the situation facing al-Hajji and Lagha since their return to Tunisia?
  2. Has the US asked to visit al-Hajji or Lagha since their return? If so, has your government allowed a representative from the US to visit al-Hajji and Lagha? How many times has a US representative visited each detainee?
  3. Prior to al-Hajji’s return from Guantanamo, did any representative of the Tunisian government inform any US official that the military court in Tunis had convicted al-Hajji in absentia in 1995 and sentenced to ten years in prison?
  4. Did Tunisian authorities notify in advance the US that they intended to detain al-Hajji and Lagha upon their arrival in Tunisia?
  5. What assurances or understandings, if any, did the Tunisian government convey to the US government as to the treatment that would await Lagha and al-Hajji upon their return? Are these in writing? If so, please provide us with copies.

Situation upon Return to Tunisia

We understand that Tunisian authorities have held both al-Hajji and Lagha in strict, round-the-clock solitary confinement since their arrival in Mornaguia prison. Al-Hajji reportedly arrived in Mornaguia on June 20. We do not know the date that Lagha arrived in Mornaguia prison.

  1. Is it true that authorities are holding al-Hajji and Lagha in solitary confinement?
  2. If so, why are al-Hajji and Lagha being held in solitary confinement?
  3. Can you explain how the long-term detention of these men in solitary confinement conforms to Tunisia’s Law on Prisons (2001) and the explicit engagement made by authorities to Human Rights Watch in April 2005 that the government would no longer hold any prisoner in long-term solitary confinement?

Al-Hajji told his lawyer that between his arrival in Tunisia on June 18 and his transfer to Mornaguia prison on June 20, the police detained him and questioned him, prevented him from sleeping, slapped him and threatened him in order to compel him to sign a statement that he was unable to read. In a statement to the press made on July 17, Tunisian authorities denied that al-Hajji had been mistreated and that the judicial police had interrogated him.

  1. Please tell us al-Hajji’s whereabouts between the time of his arrival in Tunisia on June 18 and his presentation before the Tunis Military Court investigating judge on June 20.
  2. Did a police agency other than the judicial police interrogate al-Hajji? If so, please provide the legal basis for the questioning that took place, and whether the questioning resulted in a document signed by al-Hajji.
  3. On what date did authorities bring Lagha before the investigating judge? Was he represented by a lawyer at this hearing?
  4. Where did authorities hold Lagha before presenting him before the investigating judge? Since his appearance before the investigating judge has Lagha been at Mornaguia prison continuously? If not, where was he?
  5. Please tell us if and when Lagha consulted with a defense lawyer.
  6. We understand that the investigating judge has completed the investigation into Lagha and has recommended bringing him to trial on charges of associating in a criminal enterprise for the purpose of committing acts of terrorism. Can you please confirm if he has been charged and if so, the nature of the charges?
  7. We understand that the ICRC has visited al-Hajji at least two times. Has the ICRC visited Lagha? If so, how often?
  8. Has anyone other than the ICRC, the prisoners’ lawyers, and the prisoners’ families visited Lagha or al-Hajji? If so, who visited whom and when?

Prior to Transfer

  1. Did anyone representing the Tunisian government visit al-Hajji when he was in Guantanamo? Did anyone representing the Tunisian government inform al-Hajji while he was still in Guantanamo that he had been convicted in absentia?
  2. Did anyone representing the Tunisian government visit Lagha when he was in Guantanamo? Did anyone representing the Tunisian government provide Lagha while he was in Guantanamo information about his judicial status?

The Ten Remaining Tunisian Detainees in Guantanamo

As you are aware, the US government is holding ten other Tunisians in Guantanamo:

Hichem bin Ali bin Amor al-Sliti
Adel ben Ahmed ben Ibrahim ben Saleh al-Hakeemy
al-Hedi ben al-Hedili
Rafiq bin al-Béchir bin Haloul al-Hammi
Mohammad Abdul Rahman
Sayf bin Abdallah
Adel ben Mohamed ben Abbas al-Ouarghi
Ridha bin Saleh ben Mabrouk al-Yazidi
Riyadh ben Mohamed at-Taher ben al-Akhdhar an-Naceri
Adel ben Mabrouk ben Hamida ben Mabrouk

  1. For each detainee please provide information as to whether a Tunisian court has convicted the detainee in absentia.
  2. Please tell us if and how each of these detainees can learn whether a Tunisian court has convicted him in absentia.

Finally, we wish to reiterate our request to visit both Lagha and al-Hajji. I am attaching again our request made on July 27 to visit these men. By allowing Human Rights Watch to meet with Lagha and al-Hajji, Tunisian authorities would be making an important statement about transparency. While we applaud the fact that Tunisia has granted access to the ICRC, the discretion that the ICRC maintains with respect to its visits to detainees means that, in contrast to Human Rights Watch, it does not inform the public what it learns from interviewing the prisoners.

We thank you for your consideration and hope to receive your comments by August 6.

Sincerely yours,

Sarah Leah Whitson
Executive Director, Middle East and North Africa Division

Joanne Mariner
Executive Director, Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism Program



September 2007

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