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Tunisia: Unfinished Rights Business

New Government Should Suspend Abusive Laws

(Tunis) – Tunisia’s new government, approved by Parliament on February 27, 2020, should make human rights a priority, Human Rights Watch said today. The government should protect fundamental rights in eight key areas: ending criminal…
A general view of the Assembly of the Representatives of the People in Tunis, Tunisia, May 2016.
News

Tunisia: Halt Prosecution of Prominent Activist

Accused of Inciting Hatred in a Facebook Post

(Tunis) – Tunisian authorities should drop the prosecution of a prominent activist on behalf of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights (LGBT) over a post on Facebook perceived as offensive to Islam. The counterterrorism…
Mounir Baatour, lawyer and president of Shams association, a group that defends sexual minorities.
News

Tunisia: Prosecutions for Online Commentary

Repressive Laws Sap Free Expression

(Tunis) – Tunisian authorities are using laws on criminal defamation, “spreading false information,” and “harming others via public telecommunications networks” to prosecute people for their online commentary, Human Rights Watch said…
Revolutionary graffiti adorns a wall of the Prime Minister's office in Tunis, January 22, 2011.
News

Tunisia: Citizens Testing Right-to-Information Law

Law’s Reach Depends on Enforcement

(Tunis) – Tunisia’s first freedom of information law, approaching its third anniversary, significantly advances the rights of citizens to get information from publicly funded institutions, Human Rights Watch said today. The law’s real…
The standard form for filing a request for information under Tunisia’s 2016 “Right to Access Information Law” (Law No. 2016-22).
News

Tunisia: Bloggers Held for Criticizing Officials

Arrests, Charges Lead to Self-Censorship

(Tunis) – Tunisian authorities are investigating, charging, and in some cases detaining bloggers and social media activists merely for their peaceful criticism of public officials, Human Rights Watch said today. Several said they have begun to…
Revolutionary graffiti adorns a wall of the Prime Minister's office in Tunis, January 22, 2011.
News

Top 5 Reforms Middle East Governments Can Make in 2018

Respond to Youth Demands, Gain Respect in the World

(Beirut) – Middle East and North Africa (MENA) governments can respond to the popular demands of the region’s youth for reform by implementing five changes in 2018 to arbitrary, outdated legal systems that infringe upon citizens’ rights and liberties,…
Demonstration outside Parliament on December 6, 2016, with women in white dresses and wrapped in bandages, calling for the repeal of article 522 of the penal code.
News

Tunisia: Spate of Prosecutions for Free Speech

Journalists, Union Leader Prosecuted for Criticizing Officials

(Tunis) – Tunisian authorities should quash the detention of a prominent activist and the prosecutions of two journalists for expressing their opinions. They are accused of defaming public officials. On September 9, 2013, an investigative judge ordered…
News

Tunisia: Hollande Should Raise Rights Concerns

Worrying Prosecutions Over Free Speech

(Tunis) – President François Hollande of France should raise key human rights concerns in his meetings with Tunisian officials on July 4 and 5, 2013. It is the first trip of a French president to Tunisia since Nicolas Sarkozy visited President Zine el-…
Report

Tunisia’s Repressive Laws

Introduction Now that Tunisia’s interim governing institutions have adopted laws to oversee the election of a constituent assembly, scheduled for October 23, 2011, they…
News

World Summit on the Information Society

Civil Society Strikes Back (With the Help of its Friends)

The official opening of the diplomatic phase of WSIS began with a clarion call from the president of Switzerland (host of the 2003 Geneva phase of the summit) for respect for free expression. Those were fighting words. Tunisian television, broadcasting…
Report

False Freedom

False Freedom Online Censorship in the Middle East and North Africa About this Report Summary Regional Overview.. Recommendations Note on Methodology Legal Standards Pertaining to Online Freedom of Expression Right to Freedom of Expression and Exchange…