MOVEMENT OF 18 OCTOBER COMPLAINS OF GOT ABUSE,

C O N F I D E N T I A L TUNIS 000224 SIPDIS SIPDIS NEA/MAG FOR LAWRENCE E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/31/2016 TAGS: PHUM PGOV KPAO KMPI TS SUBJECT: MOVEMENT OF 18 OCTOBER COMPLAINS OF GOT ABUSE, DEFENDS ISLAMIST COMPONENT REF: A. 05 TUNIS 2548 ¶B. 05 TUNIS 2420 Classified By: Ambassador William Hudson for Reasons 1.5 b & d ¶1. (C) Summary: The Committee of 18 October, an alliance of disparate opposition political groups and activists which grew out of the Movement of 18 October hunger strike (ref a), reported that plainclothes police "violently" blocked a committee meeting in Tunis on January 24. The following day, the committee was allowed to hold a press conference to discuss this development and the goals of the organization. Responding to GOT allegations that the movement was sympathetic to Islamists, opposition party Democratic Forum for Labor and Freedoms (FDTL) Secretary General and Committee of 18 October spokesperson Mustapha Ben Jaafar said that the movement of 18 October had room for "all Tunisians that shared the demands of freedom of expression, freedom of association, and a general amnesty for political prisoners." According to Ben Jaafar, this included Islamists with peaceful and productive political goals, but not extremists with "other ideas." Nejib Chebbi, leader of opposition party PDP and an architect of the Movement of 18 October has recently been subjected to a media campaign alledging that he has allied with Islamists, and that he met with leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood during the hajj. Chebbi has denied meeting the Muslim Brotherhood. The Movement of 18 October may have limited potential as a cohesive political party, but its goals remain valid and closely aligned to our own. End Summary. ¶2. (C) HROff attended a press conference by the Committee of 18 October, held at FDTL headquarters in Tunis. Despite a heavy plainclothes police presence around the building, all participants were freely allowed to attend the meeting. According to Ben Jaafar, the previous evening, police had allegedly violently prevented members of the Committee of 18 October from entering the same location for a non-public meeting. At the press conference Ben Jaafar, who presided over the event, explained that several members of the Committee, including Hamma Hammami, spokesperson for the Communist Worker's Party of Tunisia (POCT) and Lotfi Hajji, president of the unauthorized Tunisian Journalists' Syndicate, were pushed and shoved by plainclothes police. Ben Jaafar accused the GOT of "responding to all political challenges with security solutions," and, with fellow committee member Khemais Chammari, emphasized that the Committee of 18 October sought only a peaceful forum to address solutions to their demands. ¶3. (C) Responding to a question on the role of Islamists in the movement, Ben Jaafar said that the Movement of 18 October included "all Tunisians who are concerned about the future of their country, and who support the demands of the Movement of 18 October: freedom of expression, freedom of association, and the release of all political prisoners." Ben Jaafar explained that this included Islamists, as it included all political parties sharing these goals. He differentiated, however, between Islamist groups that had legitimate, political goals for the future of the country, and "extremists" that had "other ideas," and once again highlighted the peaceful nature of the group. Ben Jaafar, and other movement leaders acknowledged the significant ideological differences among the political parties and individuals in the Committee of 18 October. He explained that the group was united now, under the three demands, and that in the future, should these demands be met, the group would be able to democratically determine the most appropriate path for Tunisia. ¶4. (C) The fact that the Committee of 18 October includes known Islamists such as Mohamed Nouri of the International Association for the Support of Political Prisoners, lawyer Samir Dilou, and former En-Nahdha member Zied Daoulatli (recently released from prison) has in part led to a division in opposition parties in Tunisia. On January 4, the former Tunisian Communist Party Ettajdid, along with two small unauthorized leftist parties (the Patriotic and Democratic Labor Party and the Democratic Communists) and some independent intellectuals formed what they termed the "Democratic and Progressive Coalition". The coalition was formed around the rejection of any role for Islamists in Tunisian politics. The Committee of 18 October's inclusion of Islamists has provoked the GOT to launch a media slander campaign to portray Nejib Chebbi, President of the opposition Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) and a primary leader of the 18 October Movement, as an Islamic fundamentalist. (PDP's politics have been in the past secular and leftist.) The campaign has included allegations that Chebbi met with members of Muslim Brotherhood and En-Nahdha while participating in the hajj in early January, as well as the publication in a mainstream magazine of clearly-doctored photos of Chebbi wearing a turban and with a Islamic-style long beard. At the January 24 press conference, Chebbi flatly denied any allegation of ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, and said he was planning on taking legal action against Al-Mustaqbal and al Liwa the Lebanese papers that printed the allegation, Middle East Online, an Internet journal and the Tunisian daily As-Sabah, which also carried the allegation and refused to print a letter from Chebbi denying the story. (NB: Local activists alleged that the Lebanese papers and website were influenced by the Tunisian Embassy in Beirut to carry the allegations.) ¶5. (C) At the press conference, Chebbi did not comment on the allegations that he met with exiled En-Nahdha leader Rachid Ghannouchi while at the hajj. (NB: En-Nahdha is the banned Tunisian Islamic party.) Rachid Hachana, PDP member and editor of the party's newspaper Al-Mawkif, confirmed that this meeting did take place, and commented that meetings between PDP and En-Nahdha members outside of Tunisia were not rare occurrences, and that it was the right of any Tunisian to meet with any other Tunisian. (A senior advisor to PM Ghannouchi told us privately February 1 that although the meeting with the an-Nahda leader was frowned by the GOT, the real concern was the broad inclusion of disparate opposition groups, including Islamists, in the October 18 Movement, of which Chebbi is the most visible member.) ¶6. (C) Comment: While the structure of the Committee of 18 October solidifies, its support outside of a limited circle of opposition politicos and intellectuals is minimal. Attendance at the press conference was much smaller than during the original hunger strike, and the international spotlight the group enjoyed around November's UN World Summit on Information Society has faded. While the movement may not be able to mobilize widespread support given the constrictive political climate in Tunisia, their demands are valid, and track with USG goals for political reform in Tunisia. HROff's attendance at the press conference was positively noted, both in person, and in online opposition journals which have wide readership among the small Tunisian activist community. We will continue to engage Tunisians, via high-level dialogue such as the Ambassador's meeting with the FM on the 18 October hunger strike (ref b),public statements and our presence as observers at symbolic gatherings such as the Oct 18 meetings to encourage the creation of political space and freedom of expression in Tunisia. HUDSON