Human Rights Watch condemned the decision of the Tunisian authorities to dismiss prominent human rights activist Dr. Moncef Marzouki from his post as professor of medicine at the University of Sousse.
"This latest move to quash criticism testifies to the degraded state of civil liberties in Tunisia today," said Hanny Megally, executive director of the Middle East and North Africa division of Human Rights Watch. "In his speech last Friday, President Ben Ali confirmed his government's intolerance of Tunisians who seek to exercise their most basic civil rights -- while at the same time proclaiming his dedication to democratic principles."
In early June, after the return of his passport, Dr. Marzouki requested a two-week leave of absence from the university. This was refused, even though, according to Dr. Marzouki, the term was finished, exams had been graded, and he had several months of unused leave. He then secured a medical recommendation that he take time off for health reasons. He left for France in early June and returned to Tunisia on July 5.
On July 27, Dr. Marzouki was summoned to appear before the disciplinary council of the ministry of health to answer charges that the medical recommendation was fraudulent and that he had thus violated administrative procedures by traveling without permission. His lawyer attended in his place, but his request for a postponement of the hearing was refused. On July 28, President Ben Ali, speaking to cadres of his ruling RCD party, threatened to prosecute unnamed citizens whose criticisms of Tunisia while abroad "amount[ed] to treason." On July 29, Dr. Marzouki received a hand-delivered one-sentence notice from the Ministry of Health stating "This is to inform you that, on the basis of your referral to the disciplinary committee on 27 July 2000, you have been permanently dismissed from your job."
In a statement faxed to news agencies on July 31, the Ministry of Health stated that "[a]n official inquiry has yielded the evidence that Dr. Marzouki has attempted to mislead the authorities by submitting a bogus medical certificate to justify his illicit absence."
"The authorities returned Marzouki's passport in response to international pressure," said Megally, "but they were determined that he would pay an unacceptably high price if he tried to use it. The penalty of permanent dismissal is completely disproportionate and shows the extent to which the government uses Tunisian universities to enforce its repressive policies."
Dr. Marzouki told Human Rights Watch that he intends to appeal his dismissal.
Dr. Marzouki, a former president of the Tunisian League for Human Rights (LTDH), is presently the spokesperson for the National Council on Liberties in Tunisia (CNLT). In reprisal for his human rights activism, the government closed down the Center for Community Medicine, which he had founded, in 1993, and subsequently prohibited him from carrying out medical research. He was jailed for four months in 1994 after he declared himself an opposition candidate to President Ben Ali in that year's presidential elections. Following threats to himself and his family, his wife and two daughters moved to Europe. In June 1999, Dr. Marzouki was abducted by plainclothes security officials and held incommunicado for several days. Until the beginning of June, he had been without a passport and unable to travel abroad for professional purposes or to visit his family. His home telephone and fax lines were regularly cut.
In response to the Tunisian government's efforts to suppress the Tunisian League for Human Rights and other independent civic organizations, in December 1998 Dr. Marzouki and other veteran human rights activists announced the formation of the National Council for Liberties in Tunisia. The Ministry of the Interior has refused to grant the CNLT legal status as a nongovernmental organization, but the organization has nevertheless continued to issue critical bulletins and reports documenting government repression and denial of fundamental civil liberties. He and other prominent CNLT members have faced repeated judicial inquiries on spurious charges of "defaming the public order" and "spreading false information." In his speech last Friday President Ben Ali said, "It is out of the question that in the name of public liberties illegal structures are set up claiming for themselves the status of associations, organizations, or committees."
