The Tunisian government should release journalist Abdullah Zouari immediately and unconditionally, Human Rights Watch said today. Zouari was arrested after he assisted a Human Rights Watch research mission in the south of Tunisia.
Zouari, currently in Harboub prison, has faced constant harassment since he completed an 11-year prison sentence in June 2002. The original sentence included an additional five years of “administrative control,” and after his release the Ministry of Interior ordered him confined to the town of Zarzis in a remote southern region far from his family in Tunis. Zouari’s appeal of that order is still pending. Zouari was arrested on August 17 in Ben Guerdane, a market town near Zarzis. He is scheduled to appear before the cantonal judge on Friday, August 22, on charges of leaving Zarzis without obtaining police permission. But that does not appear to be the only reason. Although police had reportedly warned him not to contact foreign media and rights workers, in early August, Zouari helped a Human Rights Watch researcher visiting southern Tunisia meet with victims of rights abuses. Their movements were monitored by men in plainclothes who were apparently police.
“The real reason for Zouari’s arrest is his unflagging determination to fight for his own rights and the rights of others,” said Hanny Megally, executive director of the Middle East and North Africa Division of Human Rights Watch. “Any Tunisian who dares to criticize the lack of political freedoms under President Ben Ali knows to expect harassment or worse, but the risk is doubled for a former political prisoner. Abdullah Zouari must be released from prison and allowed to live and work where he wishes, and to speak without restriction.”
Zouari wrote for Al-Fajr, a now-defunct publication linked to the banned Nahdha (Renaissance) party, and served 11 years in prison for “membership in an illegal organization.” He was released in June 2002, but convicted again two months later and sentenced to eight months in prison for violating his administrative control order. Zouari served only two months of that sentence before his release in November 2002 for “humanitarian reasons.” Last month, Zouari was convicted and sentenced to four months in prison for “libel” after a dispute with the owner of an Internet café who Zouari said denied him entry. Zouari has appealed that decision also.
