AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL DIFFICULTIES WORKING IN

C O N F I D E N T I A L TUNIS 001154

SIPDIS

NEA/MAG (MHAYES, VSTEWART, MNARDI

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/10/2018
TAGS: PHUM PREL TS
SUBJECT: AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL DIFFICULTIES WORKING IN
TUNISIA

Classified By: Ambassador Robert F. Godec for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary: In the course of delivering petitions
requesting the closure of Guantanamo Bay, the President of
Amnesty International Tunisia (AIT) reported continuing
difficulties operating in Tunisia because of GOT
intimidation. Tactics include intervention by the Ministry
of Social Affairs to dissuade hotels from renting meeting
space to AIT, heavy security presence around AIT meetings,
and phone calls by security forces to parents accusing their
children of being unpatriotic if they show an interest in AIT
events. End summary.


2. (U) Ambassador met recently with Habib Marsit, the
President of Amnesty International Tunisia (AIT). Marsit
requested the meeting to deliver 1,242 postcards from AI
members in Pakistan (259 cards),Libya (275 cards),Yemen
(280 cards),and Tunisia (459 cards) requesting the closure
of the US detention camp at Guantanamo Bay.


3. (SBU) The Ambassador used the meeting to ask Marsit about
Amnesty International's activities in Tunisia. Marsit said
AIT is still allowed to function; however, the GOT is making
it more difficult to organize public events or expand
membership. This year, hotels refused to let space to AIT
for its annual meeting, citing the intervention of the
Ministry of Social Affairs. In the end, another NGO provided
their meeting space. The GOT does not pressure AIT employees
personally or their families, but it uses heavy police
presence at any AIT event to intimidate people, especially
young people who might want to join or help AIT. Marsit said
the Sfax, Sousse, and Monastir branches have an even more
difficult time. There security officials contact the parents
of young people who have shown an interest in AIT and tell
them their children are not patriotic.


4. (SBU) Even though AIT does not report on conditions in
Tunisia the GOT is wary of the organization. Marsit compared
the current situation with the 1990s. In the 1990s, AIT ran
a library, organized public awareness events, and coordinated
with the Tunisian League for Human Rights (LTDH) and other
human rights organizations on issues like the death penalty
and violence against women. Now, the library has been shut
down and the AIT website is blocked. At least once a year
AIT officials, "get their ears pulled," and are told they
might be shut down. AIT is still allowed to receive
financing from outside the country and foreign-based AI
researchers visit and meet with GOT ministers.


5. (C) Comment: This is another example of the GOT's
continuing caution concerning independent organizations
operating in the country. AIT's problems fall in the same
category as the problems experienced by legally recognized
opposition parties such as PDP, and registered NGOs such as
the Tunisian Human Rights League. The GOT employs soft and
hard harassment tactics including raising questions of legal
status and tax payments; taking over an organization's
leadership; suing, physical intimidation, and occasionally
arrest and imprisonment to control the political and social
environment in the country.
GODEC