TUNISIAN JOURNALIST GIVEN PRISON SENTENCE

C O N F I D E N T I A L TUNIS 000357 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR NEA FO GRAY AND NEA/MAG NSC FOR ABRAMS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/13/2017 TAGS: PHUM PGOV KPAO KMPI TS SUBJECT: TUNISIAN JOURNALIST GIVEN PRISON SENTENCE REF: A. TUNIS 327 ¶B. TUNIS 293 Classified By: Ambassador Robert F. Godec for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) Summary: Opposition journalist Mohamed Fourati was sentenced on March 9 to one year and two months in prison on charges of membership in an unauthorized organization. Fourati is currently working in Qatar, and had complained that his wife and child were denied passports to join him. However, on March 14, Fourati's wife and child received their passports from the GOT. International and domestic NGOs have rallied behind Fourati, claiming that the GOT was using the case to silence a prominent dissident voice. End Summary. ¶2. (C) According to news and NGO reports, on March 9, the Court of Appeals in southern city Gafsa sentenced journalist Mohamed Fourati in absentia to one year and two months in prison on charges of membership in an unauthorized organization, the banned Islamist party An-Nahdha. According to domestic and international NGOs and journalists familiar with the case, the sentence reportedly stemmed from charges filed against Fourati in December 2003, when Fourati was accused of giving a print-out of articles from "Aqlam Online", an online magazine for which he wrote, to two people sentenced at that time for giving funds to the families of An-Nahdha political prisoners. ¶3. (C) Fourati was reportedly originally declared not guilty by the Court of First Instance. However, the public prosecutor appealed the decision, whereupon the Court of Appeals upheld the not-guilty verdict. The public prosecutor again appealed the verdict before the Supreme Court (Cour de Cassation) which sent the case back to be re-heard at the appellate level. The Court of Appeals again upheld the not-guilty verdict. The public prosecutor yet again sent the case to the Supreme Court, which again returned the case to the appellate court, which finally, hearing the case for the third time, handed down the one year and two month sentence. ¶4. (C) Fourati has been a member of the editorial staff of the independent Al-Mawqif newspaper, which has a strongly anti-GOT editorial line, and has worked as the Tunisian correspondent of London-based al-Quds press agency. He is also a member of the unauthorized Tunisian Journalists Syndicate (SJT). In late 2006, Fourati left Tunisia and began working in Qatar for the newspaper "Ach-charq al-Qataria". He returned to Tunisia in early March for the birth of his child, but, according to a friend and colleague, left immediately after learning of the sentence from his lawyers. According to domestic and international NGOs, the GOT had inexplicably delayed issuance of a passport to Fourati's wife so she could join him in Qatar. However, on March 15, Fourati posted a communique on opposition news site Tunis News stating that police officers visited his wife at their home in Tunis on March 14 to inform her that her passport was ready. Fourati wrote that when his wife went immediately to the police station to pick up her passport, she was warmly welcomed by the chief of police. Fourati thanked human rights activists, foreign diplomats and other citizens, who supported him. ¶5. (C) Prominent Tunisian journalist Ridha Kefi (Ref A) told poloff that there was not one article that provoked Fourati's sentence. He said rather that the sentence was punishment for years of writing articles critical of the GOT, and was a scare tactic for other journalists. Rachid Khachana, Al-Mawqif chief editor, echoed Kefi's comments, saying that the GOT had chosen to target Fourati soon after he began working for Al-Mawqif. Khachana said the GOT had learned from years of experience that older members of the activist community would not bow to pressure, and was thus focused on dissuading and punishing young newcomers such as Fourati for their opposition activities. Khachana, while noting that even if Fourati had been legitimately sentenced for membership in An-Nahdha, he would still be considered a political prisoner, denied that Fourati belonged to the Islamist party. He said that Fourati tended politically and culturally towards Islamism, but that he is "open" and has friends and acquaintances across the political spectrum. ¶6. (C) Comment: Fourati has joined Mohamed Abbou (Ref B) as a Tunisian press freedom celebrity. The GOT often tries to limit support for Abbou by inaccurately labeling him an Islamist extremist (Abbou is in fact a founding member of the unauthorized, secular Congress for the People's Republic party led by Moncef Marzouki),and will likely do the same for Fourati, especially given the accusation of An-Nahdha membership and his reported Islamist sympathies. End Comment. GODEC