GOT RUSHES CONVICTION TO COINCIDE WITH ICRC

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TUNIS 000896

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR NEA/MAG (LAWRENCE),EB/CIP (SHIPMAN) AND DRL/PHD
PARIS FOR ZEYA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/29/2014
TAGS: PHUM PGOV KMPI KJUS KDEM TS ICRC WSIS
SUBJECT: GOT RUSHES CONVICTION TO COINCIDE WITH ICRC
ANNOUNCEMENT OF AGREEMENT ON PRISON VISITS

REF: A. TUNIS 826


B. TUNIS 894

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


1. (C) Summary: A Tunisian court sentenced dissident lawyer
Mohamed Abbou to a prison term of three years and six months
following his one-day April 28 trial for two charges. Abbou
was arrested in early March for publishing on the
website/listserve "Tunisnews" an article attacking President
Ben Ali for inviting Israeli President Sharon to attend the
November 2005 World Summit on the Information Society. Many
in the dissident and diplomatic communities claim this is the
biggest "political" trial since 2002, and while there were
irregularities, the sentence was lighter than expected.
There are reports that senior GOT officials ordered the judge
to deliver a verdict April 28 "no matter what." End Summary

GOT Rushes One-Day Trial of Dissident Lawyer
Mohamed Abbou, Sentences Him To Three And A Half Years
-------------- --------------

2. (U) A Tunisian court sentenced dissident lawyer Mohamed
Abbou to a prison term of three years and six months close to
midnight following his one-day April 28 trial for two
charges. Legal sources told us early in the afternoon of
April 28 that the trial judge was under orders from the
Ministry of Justice and Human Rights to conclude the trial
that day "no matter what."


3. (U) Abbou was arrested in early March for publishing on
the website/listserve "Tunisnews" an article attacking
President Ben Ali for inviting Israeli President Sharon to
attend the November 2005 World Summit on the Information
Society, which is to be held in Tunis. He was convicted for
that and for a subsequent charge of assault and battery on a
female Tunisian lawyer that reportedly occurred some time
ago. The female victim reportedly suffered a ten percent
permanent physical incapacity, although Abbou's defenders
said that medical records in the trial had been falsified.
Observers cite another article that Abbou wrote, also
published on Tunisnews in which Abbou urged readers to not
focus on abuses at Abu Ghraib at the expense of abuses in
Tunisian prisons. They say the real reason he was arrested
was that he crossed several redlines by attacking President
Ben Ali personally and so vituperatively over the invitation
to Sharon.


4. (U) Emboffs have had several interactions with the
"Defenders of Abbou," the group of his supporters who have
been working to publicize his detention and to secure his
release. At Abbou's April 28 trial, which poloff attended, a
number of them approached him to thank him for the U.S.
Embassy's support. The "Defenders of Abbou" had a
translation committee which provided international observers
with translation from the trial's Arabic proceedings into
French. The pro-Government lawyers also whispered editorial
comments into foreigners' ears, and at one point poloff had
simultaneous translations from the two sides on each ear.
(NB: With a few minor exceptions, the two sides were cordial
to each other.)

Recap of Trial: A Day At the Justice Palace
--------------

5. (SBU) The Abbou trial took place in one of the smallest
courtrooms in the Tunisian courts ("Palais de Justice")
building. It was one of several trials scheduled to take
place in the 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. session. Abbou's trial took
place last. The courtroom -- designed to hold around 100
onlookers -- was packed with perhaps 500-600 people. The
vast majority appeared to be in the room to attend the Abbou
trial. Participants said approximately 90 per cent of those
were pro-Abbou with about 10 per cent pro-ruling party. In
addition approximately 15 per cent were women, 5 per cent
were foreigners, and there were a dozen uniformed police in
the court room, which participants said was normal. Abbou's
trial started a little after 11:00. When police brought him
in, all the Tunisians quickly stood up and started singing
their national anthem loudly. (NB: This singing also
happened in the 2002 trial of Hamma Hammami and presumably
harkens back to the anti-colonial independence movement from
the 1950s, in which the legal profession was a major player.)
The three judges immediately ran out of courtroom. There
was an hour delay as police tried to get the lawyers present
to back up and calm down. The GOT brought in a retired chief
of the judicial police (apparently highly respected by both
sides) to mediate.


6. (SBU) Eventually everyone calmed down, and the trial
began. Abbou supporters said the judge was known to be
pro-ruling party. Early in the process Democratic
Progressive Party SYG Nejib Chebbi filed a motion to change
the trial to a larger courtroom. The judge responded with
respect but declined the request. From there, the level of
the trial's civility got worse. Following the French-origin
court procedure, no witnesses or evidence were heard.
Discussion centered on whether the judge could combine the
main charge against Abbou (related to publication of the
scurrilous article) with the newer one related to the much
older alleged assault. The judge wanted to issue one
combined "process verbale" for both charges. Lawyers invoked
a number of technicalities to block the judge and the trial
was left in limbo. Finally at around 1:30 p.m. the judge
adjourned to chambers to deliberate and -- it was said --
call the Ministry of Justice for technical advice on a
solution to the defense's technical strategem.
Approximately two-thirds of participants staged a sit in
(i.e., remained in court room talking). The final verdict
reportedly came around midnight.

7. (SBU) Overall, the trial had a very energetic, charged
atmosphere. Police and court officials were pretty calm and
in control except during the crowd's initial outburst.
However, they seemed at a loss over how to react to the
lawyers' technical motion to block the verdict.

Trial Unifies EU ... Sort Of
--------------

8. (SBU) A number of international NGO observers attended the
trial, including Human Rights Watch and Lawyers Without
Borders. In terms of diplomatic representation, poloffs from
the French, Swiss, German, Canadian, Belgian, and British
embassies also attended. Two representatives of the European
Commission also attended.


9. (C) EU diplomats said they planned a joint EU demarche on
this issue. They described the demarche as unprecedented,
since southern European countries have traditionally been
reluctant to engage the GOT on human rights issues. The EU
presidency currently is held by the Dutch, but that Embassy's
Ambassador and DCM/Polcouns are both out of the country.
Responsibility was passed to the British, who are next in
line for the presidency here. They confirmed the plans, but
said that the demarche (urging the GOT to release Abbou) had
not been finalized.

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

10. (C) Abbou's conviction is a disappointment though not a
surprise; still, most observers expected a harsher sentence
-- he could have gotten more than a dozen years. We expect
that he will serve two-thirds of his three and a half years
and then receive a conditional pardon from President Ben Ali,
as this is the normal practice here. We will report septel
further significant information we learn about the EU
demarche. We think it interesting that the conviction
coincided with the ICRC communique announcing its agreement
with the GOT on prison visits. Many others believe this was
an intentional effort to balance the human rights image of
Tunisia. It is certainly the case that Abbou was arrested
and convicted for two reasons more than any others: first, he
violated publication red lines by attacking President Ben Ali
personally and baldly stating in print the rumors of
high-level corruption that everyone here talks about
privately; second, his relentless vituperative focus on the
invitation to Sharon to attend the upcoming World Summit on
the Information Society (WSIS) in November compelled the
image conscious GOT to want to silence him. We think the
chances of his release prior to WSIS are slim to none.
HUDSON