Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05TUNIS1235
2005-06-09 15:17:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Tunis
Cable title:  

TUNISIA HUMAN RIGHTS DEVELOPMENTS: 05/25 - 06/08

Tags:  PHUM PREL KPAO KMPI TS 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TUNIS 001235 

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/MAG, NEA/FO, NEA/PI

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/08/2015
TAGS: PHUM PREL KPAO KMPI TS
SUBJECT: TUNISIA HUMAN RIGHTS DEVELOPMENTS: 05/25 - 06/08

REF: A. TUNIS 896


B. TUNIS 1201

C. WWW.TUNISNEWS.NET - MAY 25 AND JUNE 4

D. TUNIS 1148

Classified By: CDA David Ballard for Reasons 1.5 (b) and (d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TUNIS 001235

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/MAG, NEA/FO, NEA/PI

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/08/2015
TAGS: PHUM PREL KPAO KMPI TS
SUBJECT: TUNISIA HUMAN RIGHTS DEVELOPMENTS: 05/25 - 06/08

REF: A. TUNIS 896


B. TUNIS 1201

C. WWW.TUNISNEWS.NET - MAY 25 AND JUNE 4

D. TUNIS 1148

Classified By: CDA David Ballard for Reasons 1.5 (b) and (d)


1. SUMMARY: This cable summarizes significant human rights
developments during the previous two week period.
Topics covered are:

-- Case of Mohamed Abbou
-- Arab Institute of Human Rights Funding Problems
-- Formation of "Committee for the Defense of Victims of
Terrorism Law"
-- Amnesty International Official Refused Tunisian Visa
-- Petition against the Arab Human Rights Charter
-- Defamation of CNLT Leader Sihem Bensedrine

END SUMMARY.

Abbou Case
--------------


2. (C) The appellate trial of lawyer/activist Mohamed Abbou,
sentenced on April 28 to three and a half years in prison,
will be held Friday, June 10. (See ref A for background).
Abbou supporters are hoping for a similar outcome to that of
fellow jailed lawyer/activist Faouzi Ben M'rad, who was
released after an appellate trial on May 30. In the past two
weeks, Abbou,s wife has reached out to Embassy officers to
request further involvement of the USG; we plan to observe
the trial June 10 along with EU diplomats. In a recent
discussion, Abbou told emboff that she thought her husband
had "pronounced his death sentence" when he mentioned the
Trabelsi family in his second internet article on the
invitation of Sharon to WSIS. She said that "people from the
presidential palace told me that it was (Ben Ali,s wife)
Leila who gave orders to arrest my husband." Abbou,s wife
detailed a late-May visit to her husband, jailed in El Kef.
She said there was no evidence that her husband had been
physically abused, and that because of the attention given to
his case, he was sharing a cell with only three others---in a
cell usually reserved for 30. In an ironic aside, she said
that because of this special treatment, about 50 prisoners
were crowded in another 30-man cell.

AIHR Goes Public on Funding Dispute
--------------


3. (C) The Arab Institute of Human Rights held a press
conference on June 7 to announce their recent financial

difficulties due to an alleged GOT blockage of their
international funding (ref B). Al Sabah newspaper reported
that the government's only dispute with the organization was
that a member of the Tunisian Human Rights League (LTDH) was
illegally present on the steering committee of AIHR. AIHR
director Baccouche told us that this "illegal member" of
their advisory board is Khemais K'sila, former Secretary
General of LTDH. K'sila was arrested in 1998 and sentenced
to three years in prison on charges of defamation and
inciting the public to violence, and was released after
serving only a few months. After being charged (unjustly,
according to colleagues) with sexual harassment in 2000, he
moved to France. K'sila's designation by the GOT as illegal
is likely a combination of his previous criminal charges, and
a RCD-backed ruling that the 2000 LTDH elections were invalid
since membership cards of LTDH members had not been renewed
before the trials. Human rights observers alleged that the
GOT was concerned that no RCD members had been elected to the
LTDH steering committee during the 2000 elections, and
interfered unjustly as a result. However, Baccouche said
that K'sila has served on the advisory board of AIHR since
1997, and that the GOT is using his presence on the board
only as an excuse to disrupt the Institute's work at a time
when its profile is increasing.


4. (C) We plan to raise this issue with MFA Director of
Americas and Asia, Ambassador Atallah at the earliest
opportunity.


"Committee for the Defense of Victims of Terrorism Law"
-------------- --------------


5. (U) On May 25, a group of lawyers/human rights activists
announced the formation a "committee for the defense of
victims of the law on terrorism," partially as a result of
the case of 14 young men allegedly indicted on terrorism
charges April 22, 2004. A release from the group states that
10 men were arrested and 4 charged in absentia. The
committee is concerned about the "danger" of the 2003
anti-terrorism law, alleging it confers "absolute
prerogatives" to the GOT. The committee alleged a lack of due
process and fair trial in the case of these 14 indictees. On
June 4, six human rights NGOs released a shared communique
stating that police had barred a group of trial observers
from international and national human rights organizations
from attending the appellate trial held the same day in
Tunis. The communique also alleges that some of the
indictees were tortured, and gave confessions under duress.
(Ref C). The appellate trial has reportedly been delayed
until June 15.

6. (C) COMMENT: There has been considerable criticism of the
2003 Terrorism Law from human rights activists, who charge it
is too broad and gives even more arbitrary power to GOT
authorities. We expect this new Committee may also protest
the subsequent arrest May 23 of four or more men in the
northern Cap Bon region, reportedly for accessing
terrorist-related Internet sites, a case similar to the
well-known "Zarzis group" of young men arrested in 2003. The
allegations of torture and forced confessions in this most
recent case could well be true. While we track these cases
closely in a human rights context, we note that information
from a variety of non-Tunisian official sources indicates
that there was good evidence supporting the arrests. END
COMMENT.

Amnesty International Official Refused Visa
--------------


7. (SBU) During the week of May 20th, the GOT reportedly
refused to issue a visa to Mazna Masri, a member of the
Amnesty International regional office in Beirut. According
to opposition paper al Maouqif, Masri was attempting to come
to Tunis to participate in a human rights training session.
The AI office in Beirut sent Mr. Ahmed Karaoud in Masri's
place, as Karaoud was able to enter on his Tunisian passport.


Petition against the Arab Human Rights Charter
-------------- -


8. (U) Over 100 civil society members, professors, and
lawyers have signed a petition to the GOT to withdraw from
consideration the passage of the Arab Human Rights Charter,
currently before the Chamber of Deputies. The signatories
are concerned that the Charter is not sufficiently
progressive on key human rights issues, and would in fact be
a regressive step, notably as concerns the rights of women.

Defamation of CNLT Leader Sihem Bensedrine
--------------


9. (U) International and national human rights organizations
and activists continued to rally behind National Council for
Liberty in Tunisia (CNLT) leader and editor of banned on-line
magazine Kalima, Sihem Bendsedrine, who they allege has been
the target of a GOT-sponsored smear campaign in the Tunisian
press, after the release of a CNLT report titled
"Misinformation in the Tunisian Media." Since early May,
several pro-GOT Arab-language newspapers, including Ash
Shourouq, Al-Hadath and As-sarih, have run articles
criticizing Bensedrine for, among other charges, "media and
political prostitution" and being "a person struck by
hysteria and delirium." Another article claimed that
Bensedrine was on "a suspicious mission to Iraq" under Paul
Bremer. In an on-line article on "Index on Censorship",
associate editor Rohan Jayaskeera countered, "the opposite is
true. Bensedrine's program dealt with censorship and the
threats to Iraqi media rights posed by the U.S. occupation's
media control strategy. Sihem is a friend to media freedom,
not to Paul Bremer."


10. (C) COMMENT: Detractors of the human rights community,
including the GOT, often use defamation of character to
undermine NGO activity; most open critics of the government
are labeled traitors in the first instance. Although we
believe the campaign against Bensedrine is unfounded, it is
certainly true that Bensedrine's own writings are often
filled with hyperbole and questionable accusations. END
COMMENT.
BALLARD