HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH HOLDS FIRST PRESS CONFERENCE IN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TUNIS 000840

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR NEA/MAG(LAWRENCE),DRL/PHD
PARIS FOR ZEYA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/20/2015
TAGS: PHUM PGOV TS
SUBJECT: HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH HOLDS FIRST PRESS CONFERENCE IN
TUNISIA

REF: A. HTTP://WWW.HRW.ORG/REPORTS/2005/TUNISIA0405


B. 2004 TUNIS 2451

C. 2004 TUNIS 2103

D. TUNIS 826

E. 2003 TUNIS 2361

Classified By: Ambassador William J. Hudson; reasons: 1.4(b/d)


1. (C) Summary: Two visiting Human Rights Watch (HRW)
staffers successfully held a press conference April 20 to
release a new HRW report on solitary confinement of Tunisian
political prisoners. The 39-page report is based on
interviews of political prisoners conditionally released in
the November 2004 amnesty. During the press event, in
addition to describing the continuing poor treatment of
prisoners in the country, the HRW staffers mentioned a number
of positive developments: the GOT had agreed to let them hold
the press conference; a "senior official" (ATCE DG Ossama
Romdhani, HRW revealed to us privately) promised them April
19 that the GOT would no longer subject political prisoners
to solitary confinement (while still refusing to admit
specifically that Tunisia holds any political prisoners);
and, another "senior official" (we believe in Ministry of
Justice) said HRW would be allowed to tour a Tunisian prison
when they next visited the country. The HRW staffers said
the GOT claimed that ICRC prison visits are "on the verge" of
taking place; however, there are other indications that
optimism on this issue would be premature. The HRW visit and
public release of the report is a surprising and welcome
development. On the other hand, we have learned that the GOT
asked UNDP's Tunis office to cancel its plans to publicly
release the Arab Human Development Report at a press
conference originally scheduled for April 11, although the
UNDP has had no trouble distributing the report. End Summary.

HRW holds press conference to release critical report
of solitary confinement procedures in prisons
-------------- --------------

2. (U) Two visiting Human Rights Watch (HRW) staffers
assigned to cover the MENA region (Executive Director Sarah
Leah Whitson and Research Director Eric Goldstein)
successfully held a press conference April 20 to release a
new HRW report critical of the solitary confinement of
Tunisian political prisoners, entitled "Crushing the person,
crushing a movement." It follows up on a groundbreaking
report on the same subject released last year (which was not
released in Tunisia). The press conference was held at the
Tunisian Human Rights League (LTDH) headquarters and was
attended by local and foreign journalists, although
three-quarters of the approximately 100 attendees at the
press conference were human rights activists, opposition
party leaders, and/or former political prisoners.


3. (U) The new 39-page report (available online Ref A) is
based on interviews of political prisoners conditionally
released in the November 2004 amnesty (Ref B). In addition
to the two HRW staffers, prominent Tunisian civil society
leaders also made presentations at the press conference,
including LTDH President Mokhtar Trifi, AISPP President
Mohamed Nouri, and Kalima editor Sihem Bensedrine. A small
number of the former prisoners included in the report were
present at the press conference and one, Zied Douletli,
delivered a personal account of his fourteen years spent in
prison. Families of current prisoners also spoke. Goldstein
reported that the GOT told him that many prisoners had
"volunteered" for solitary confinement; however, he said his
interviews had revealed many of these so-called requests to
be not for solitary confinement but to be moved to other
less-crowded or non-smoking cells.


4. (U) Discussion of current human rights cases focused on
three individuals: Abdullah Zouari, currently "banished" by
GOT administrative control measures to the southern Tunisian
town of Zarzis (Ref C); journalist Hamadi Jebali currently
incarcerated in the Sfax prison and conducting a hunger
strike (Ref B); and, lawyer Mohamed Abbou, arrested for
writing articles published online critical of the regime (Ref
D).

Deliverables: Positive ... In Theory
--------------

5. (U) At the press conference, Goldstein reported that the
HRW visit had made several significant achievements:

>> Although other international NGOs had presented
reports at LTDH-hosted press conferences, this
was the first time HRW had been able to do so,
and they had experienced significant cooperation
-- and no harassment -- from the GOT, unlike in
previous years. Goldstein noted that the GOT
had harassed Tunisians for cooperating with HRW
in the past (e.g., Zouari, see Ref F); and he
said they planned to follow up with the former
prisoners who contributed to the report to
confirm they would not face any repercussions.

>> A senior GOT official pledged to end solitary
confinement for political prisoners, although
he said the GOT persists in denying that it has
political prisoners or prisoners of opinion.
Solitary confinement will continue as a form of
punishment of common law prisoners who break rules
or who otherwise need special confinement. Prisoners
will no longer be allowed to request solitary
confinement, in order to avoid confusion over
whether or not the prisoner was being held in
solitary confinement against his will.

>> Another senior GOT official promised to let HRW
staff tour a Tunisian prison the next time they
visit the country, although Goldstein admitted
that the official had caveated that HRW and the
GOT still needed to work out the modalities first.
That official also told the HRW staffers that the
GOT was "on the verge" of reaching an agreement
with the ICRC to allow prison visits.


6. (C) In an April 19 courtesy call with the Ambassador and
embassy staff, Whitson revealed that Tunisian External
Communication Agency (ATCE) Director General Ossama Romdhani
had been their primary interlocutor, along with human rights
officials in the MFA and Ministry of Justice and Human
Rights. She said they noted to Romdhani that it had been
nearly one year since the GOT first announced that the ICRC
could visit Tunisian prisons; yet, no visits had taken place
thus far. She asked Romdhani when they could expect the ICRC
to conduct its first prison visit, but Romdhani was
noncommittal.


7. (C) The HRW staffers had been scheduled to meet P/E
Counselor on the evening of April 19 to discuss their
meetings in greater detail; however, Romdhani requested that
they meet him for a ten minute meeting to discuss urgent
developments. The staffers expected Romdhani at least to ask
them to cancel the press conference and at most to ask them
to leave the country. However, he told them the GOT would
not object to their press conference, and he told them that
they could announce that the GOT had agreed to cease the
practice of solitary confinement for political prisoners.

Comment
--------------

8. (C) The press conference, complete with personal
testimonies and the public release of the report, is a
surprising and welcome development. The HRW representatives
clearly were pleased at their reception and claimed their
conversations with Romdhani were extremely frank. As usual,
it is not readily apparent what motiviated the GOT to
facilitate the event and make the kind of forward-leaning
gestures the HRW claims. We tend to believe, as stated
previously, that Tunisian authorities have made the
calculation that the political prisoner issue is one they can
address with relative confidence. Most prisoners are nearing
the end of their sentences or already have been released.


9. (C) Muting optimism is also the fact that the head of the
UNDP office here told the Ambassador that a similar public
event to release the third Arab Human Development Report had
been planned for April 11 but had been cancelled -- at the
GOT's unexplained request -- at the last minute, although he
noted the UNDP had had no trouble distributing the report.
We also caution that the long-awaited agreement with the ICRC
to allow prison visits is still not signed despite claims
from both the GOT and the ICRC that all points have been
agreed on. Even taking all the above into account, this
development is worthy of note in our conversations with GOT
officials.
HUDSON