Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06TUNIS1308
2006-05-30 15:11:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Tunis
Cable title:  

TUNISIAN HUMAN RIGHTS LEAGUE CONGRESS VIOLENTLY

Tags:  PREL PGOV PHUM KMPI KPAO KDEM TS 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXYZ0026
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHTU #1308/01 1501511
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 301511Z MAY 06
FM AMEMBASSY TUNIS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0834
INFO RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 1154
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 1581
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME PRIORITY 0696
RUEHMD/AMEMBASSY MADRID PRIORITY 0519
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L TUNIS 001308 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/MAG (WLAWRENCE)

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/29/2016
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM KMPI KPAO KDEM TS
SUBJECT: TUNISIAN HUMAN RIGHTS LEAGUE CONGRESS VIOLENTLY
BLOCKED

REF: A. TUNIS 501


B. 05 TUNIS 2034

Classified By: Ambassador William Hudson for Reasons 1.4 b and d

C O N F I D E N T I A L TUNIS 001308

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/MAG (WLAWRENCE)

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/29/2016
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM KMPI KPAO KDEM TS
SUBJECT: TUNISIAN HUMAN RIGHTS LEAGUE CONGRESS VIOLENTLY
BLOCKED

REF: A. TUNIS 501


B. 05 TUNIS 2034

Classified By: Ambassador William Hudson for Reasons 1.4 b and d


1. (C) Summary: Tunisian security forces violently blocked a
national congress of the Tunisian Human Rights League (LTDH)
on May 27. On the eve of the Congress, post and other
western diplomatic missions received telephone calls from the
MFA and Note Verbales recommending that for safety concerns
diplomats avoid the Congress and its vicinity. Poloff, along
with European diplomats, witnessed security agents who had
turned out in force to block access to the LTDH headquarters
beat several people who appeared to be trying to attend. The
GOT appears determined to prevent the current leadership from
conducting a Congress and, along with GOT-loyal League
members, continues to attempt to limit the independence of
the LTDH. End Summary.


Background
--------------


2. (C) The Tunisian Human Rights League (LTDH, Ref A) has
been locked in a five year internal struggle against League
members loyal to the ruling Democratic Constitutional Rally
(RCD) party over the legality of administrative actions taken
by the current leadership, led by President Mokhtar Trifi.
After multiple delays and cancellations of the LTDH's annual
congress, which has not been held since 2000, Trifi and the
Executive Committee of the LTDH decided to hold a Congress on
May 27. In the proceeding weeks, pro-RCD regional heads of
LTDH sections, who had previously filed lawsuits to prevent
the Congress, sent letters to Tunisian newspapers denigrating
the current leadership. They allege that Trifi has
selectively removed certain regional sections because of
their refusal to accept his leadership or the results of the
2000 Congress that elected him. Trifi and his sympathizers
argue that the plaintiffs in the court case are working in
concert with the GOT to undermine the independence of the
LTDH. In the week before the proposed congress, seven LTDH

members of the pro-RCD camp petitioned and won a case asking
the Ministry of Justice to authorize GOT security forces to
prevent the Congress.


3. (C) On May 26, the MFA called Ambassador to state that
Tunisian security forces had been authorized to prevent the
Congress and recommended that for safety concerns, U.S.
diplomats avoid the area. A Note Verbale sent shortly
thereafter by the MFA stated:

The Executive Committee of the Tunisian League for Human
Rights announced that the LTDH Congress will be held on May
27 and 28, 2006. Several LTDH section presidents have
petitioned the State Prosecutor to execute a summary verdict
that was rendered on September 5, 2005 banning the Congress.

The claimants have obtained, if necessary, the right to legal
assistance from the State Prosecutor, to execute the verdict
in accordance with legislation and procedures.

We remind you that the disagreement within the LTDH is
strictly internal, and that it is not the business of the
Tunisian authorities. In our concern for the security of
members of diplomatic missions and foreign nationals in
Tunisia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs advises the Embassy
of the United States of America to invite its personnel and
nationals to avoid the areas where the Congress is scheduled
to take place and the surrounding areas.



4. (C) Post consulted with representatives of the British,
French and Canadian Embassies who had received similar phone
calls and Note Verbales from the MFA. (NOTE: When attending
or observing human rights events such as press conferences
and political trials, post often coordinates with European
counterparts. While the French and Canadians were not
planning and not able to attend (respectively) the event, the
British were planning to attend despite the MFA warning.)


5. (C) On May 27, Poloff, accompanied by U.K. DCM, attempted
to go to LTDH headquarters in downtown Tunis, the site of the
Congress. Upon arrival at the street leading to the LTDH
building, a half hour before the Congress was to begin at

16:00, there was a heavy police presence, approximately 20
officers in uniform, and at least one hundred individuals who
appeared to be civilian clothed police. The police
instructed the driver of the U.K diplomatic vehicle in which
Poloff was riding that he was not permitted to drive to the
League headquarters. Poloff and U.K. DCM exited the vehicle
and spoke with security officials, GOT-loyal LTDH members,
and one man who presented himself as "charged with carrying
out the decision of the judiciary to prevent the Congress"
(NFI). All interlocutors said that there had been a court
decision not to allow anyone to enter the LTDH HQ, including
invitees, LTDH officials or members, and that diplomats could
also not pass barricades set up to block entrance to the
street in front of LTDH HQ. According to one security
official, only members of the Executive Committee were
permitted to enter the LTDH HQ.


6. (C) Two diplomats from the European Commission and one
diplomat from the Belgian Embassy arrived at the scene
shortly before 16:00. Over the next half hour, several
people attempted to enter the area immediately before the
barricades across the road leading to the LTDH HQ. The
number of police, the large majority of whom were large men
in civilian clothing, had grown to approximately 200 in the
immediate vicinity of the barricades. Souheir Belhassen,
Vice-President of the LTDH and a member of the Executive
Committee, who had been permitted to enter, walked from the
HQ to the area of the barricades with several other members
of the Executive Committee. She met the diplomats as well as
EU Parliamentarian Helen Flautre, who had arrived moments
earlier. (NOTE: Flautre sits on the EU Parliament
sub-committee of human rights, and on its Tunisia group and
frequently travels to Tunisia to defend human rights
activists END NOTE.) Belhassen began arguing with security
who pushed her several times back towards the direction of
the HQ. After she was pushed, a man with her came to her
defense who was then also pushed and struck by security
officers. Following this incident, LTDH President Mokhtar
Trifi arrived by vehicle. Many vehicles that were passing by
the road, including apparently Tunisian citizens not involved
with the events, were hit aggressively on the hood, windows
and roof by security officials with their hands in an attempt
to clear them quickly from the scene. An AP stringer also
tried to remain on the scene but was pushed away by police.


7. (C) With the arrival of Trifi, who was accompanied by a
French senator and two French judges (NFI),the atmosphere at
the barricade became more chaotic. Several people, assumedly
trying to gain access to the site, were grabbed by security
officials who then pushed them down the street away from the
site. Poloff witnessed three of these incidents, wherein
while aggressively pushing people away from the site,
security officials violently struck the people in the head,
neck and torso with their fists, in plain view of the
assembled diplomats. Among the large crowd of security
agents, several had video cameras and still cameras, and were
photographing diplomats and the members of LTDH who attempted
to enter the site.


8. (C) Many of the GOT-loyal members of the LTDH who were on
the scene loudly debated with the French judges and senator,
as well as some of the diplomats present, claiming that what
was being witnessed was "respect for the law" and "justice
being carried out, just like in your own countries." One
Tunisian interlocutor asked a French judge: "Do you not
respect the law?" To which the judge responded: "We respect
that which is respectable." The person who had previously
identified himself as having been designated to carry out the
judicial decision to block the Congress, who had initially
been calmly speaking with diplomats on the scene, became more
agitated as time passed, eventually telling diplomats that
they should not be at the scene -- that they belonged "at
your Embassies or at the MFA." Eventually, around 16:30,
Trifi and Belhassen and other members of the LTDH Executive
Board departed from the scene, and shortly thereafter
diplomatic observers departed as well.


9. (C) While Poloff was still on the scene, Ambassador
received a call from MFA Director General for the Americas
and Asia, Ghazi Jomaa, who noted that an American diplomat
had attempted to go to the Congress despite the Note Verbale
recommending against it. EC Political Counselor, while still
on the scene, also received a telephone call from the MFA
Director for Europe, who delivered a similar message. Both

the Ambassador and the EC PolCounselor informed the MFA that
they viewed the Note Verbal as a recommendation, but decided
to send observers nonetheless.


10. (C) COMMENT: While the GOT and the LTDH endlessly debate
legalistic points about the current crisis within the League,
it is clear that the GOT is dead set on ensuring that the
LTDH under its current leadership not solidify its status by
conducting a National Congress. While pro-GOT League members
argue that by consolidating various regional LTDH sections
and attempting to exclude pro-RCD members, current League
leadership have broken internal League statutes, Trifi et
alia know well the history of other independent organizations
in Tunisia, such as the young lawyer's association, and the
Tunisian Judges Association (Ref B),whose independent nature
was co-opted when the ranks of these groups were filled with
pro-GOT members. With the League, one of whose primary
objectives is to monitor and report on human rights abuses by
the GOT, having RCD rank and file in the organization would
potentially compromise its operational utility, as pro-GOT
members would be reluctant to report on GOT violations.


11. (C) COMMENT (cont'd): Meanwhile, the GOT continues to
insist that rule of law is the fundamental issue at hand and
the LTDH crisis remains strictly internal. While human
rights activists often allege abuse by security forces, the
incidents of violence at the LTDH congress mark the first
time in recent years that Embassy officers have witnessed
such abuse first hand. The events also mark the first time
that the GOT has attempted to warn off foreign observers.
The LTDH has been a cause celebre for the EU -- EU funding
for the organization has been blocked for years. EU
observers were present, and vocal, at the events surrounding
the Congress, and although no French diplomat observed the
events, the Quai d'Orsay released a mild statement expressing
concern about the LTDH situation. Nevertheless on May 30,
local GOT-influenced newspapers headlined Ben Ali's
acceptance of awards from three European organizations,
including a section of the prestigious Institute of France.
END COMMENT.
HUDSON