Tunisian authorities prevented mourners from holding a memorial ceremony yesterday in honor of human rights activist Adel Arfaoui, Human Rights Watch said. Plainclothes police turned away family members and friends of Arfaoui as they approached the Tunis headquarters of the Tunisian Human Rights League, where the ceremony was to be held.
Arfaoui died unexpectedly on May 11. He had been active in the Tunisian Human Rights League for more than two decades and was also a founding member of the National Council for Liberties in Tunisia (CNLT).
Police did not tell well-wishers why they could not approach the league headquarters but allowed only league executive committee members to pass. Agents in plainclothes shoved and kicked council member Omar Mestiri as they pushed him away.
Authorities have frequently blocked meetings and public activities of the league, although it remains a legal organization in Tunisia. They are even more systematic in blocking gatherings of the CNLT, claiming it is an “illegal organization” and forcefully pushing away members who approach the meeting-place.
“On this sad occasion, Tunisian authorities have shown that their intolerance of independent human rights gatherings extends even to a small service for the bereaved,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, director of the Middle East and North Africa division at Human Rights Watch.
