Over the period May-August 1999, a number of independent observers were sent by international human rights organizations to monitor the trial of Radhia Nasraoui and her co-defendants in Tunis.
Gamal Abouali attended the May 15 hearing on behalf of Amnesty International, and the July 10 hearing on behalf of the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights (LCHR), Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (a joint program of the International Federation of Human Rights and the World Organization against Torture). The Dutch Lawyers for Lawyers Foundation contributed to expenses in attending the July 10 hearing. Abouali is a graduate of the Yale University Law School and is admitted to the practice of law in New York State. He interned at Al-Haq, a human rights organization in Ramallah, the West Bank, and was a Schell Fellow with Human Rights Watch. At the time of writing he was an associate in the Paris office of Clearly, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton.
Lynn Welchman attended the May 15 and June 19 hearings, mandated by Human Rights Watch, LCHR, and the Observatory. Lynn Welchman is currently the director of the Centre of Islamic and Middle Eastern Law at SOAS, University of London. She has worked with Palestinian and international human rights organizations since the early 1980s and has attended two previous trials in Tunisia as an observer.
The Observatory also mandated Mohamed Tahri, an Algerian lawyer who observed the May 15 session and signed on as co-counsel for the defense in the appeal, following up on French lawyer Dominique de la Garanderie's role in the trial of first instance.
The appeal hearing on August 6 was attended by Bernadette Ficq, a Dutch lawyer mandated by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, LCHR, the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, and the Dutch Lawyer for Lawyer Foundation.
This report is based on the notes furnished by all of the above-named observers. It was drafted by Abouali and edited by Welchman and staff members at Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders. The sponsoring organizations are grateful to the observers for having donated their time to attend the trial and record their observations.