PLAUSIBLE DENIABILITY: GOT SEEKS COVER WHEN

S E C R E T TUNIS 000864 SIPDIS NEA/MAG (NARDI/STEWART); DRL (JOHNSTONE/KLARMAN) LONDON AND PARIS FOR NEA WATCHER E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/31/2018 TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL KDEM KPAO TS SUBJECT: PLAUSIBLE DENIABILITY: GOT SEEKS COVER WHEN LIMITING FREEDOMS (PART I OF II) REF: A. TUNIS 826 ¶B. TUNIS 590 ¶C. TUNIS 514 ¶D. TUNIS 408 ¶E. TUNIS 169 ¶F. 07 TUNIS 1294 ¶G. 07 TUNIS 1283 ¶H. 07 TUNIS 1225 ¶I. 07 TUNIS 1044 ¶J. 06 TUNIS 816 Classified By: Ambassador Robert F. Godec for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) -------------- Summary -------------- ¶1. (C) The Government of Tunisia has a deserved reputation for silencing its perceived opponents. At the same time, the GOT has perfected the art of plausible deniability, allowing it to deflect allegations of harassment. Often, the GOT works through intermediaries, using a broad range of tools ranging from the legal system to third party proxies to box-in and/or harass opposition figures and human rights activists. The circuitous measures used by the government makes it difficult -- but no less necessary -- to engage directly with the GOT on the issues that are at the heart of the matter: freedom of expression and freedom of association. End Summary. ¶2. (C) This is the first in a two-part series on civil society. Part I catalogues the means the GOT uses to target activists. Part II examines the tools activists have used to advance their objectives in the face of GOT harassment. -------------- Drug Smuggling Libel Spouting Counterfeiters -------------- ¶3. (C) Though Tunisian law carries harsh penalties for impugning government institutions or officials, the GOT rarely pursues these charges against political activists and opponents. Instead, the GOT prefers to manipulate the judicial system by using third party actors or manufactured charges unrelated to activism to discredit its opponents. This tactic has the benefit of targeting civil society activists, without opening up the GOT to claims of harassment. Usually the charges against activists have a veneer of credibility, but on occasion they appear to be chosen at random. For example, days after comedian Hedi Oula Baballah performed a satirical sketch featuring President Ben Ali, he was charged with counterfeiting (Ref E). Among the various charges brought against activists during the last year are libel, failing to present a national ID card, 
possession of an illegal narcotic, and insulting a police officer. -------------- Justice is Blind -------------- ¶4. (C) The judicial system is the GOT's weapon of choice when it comes to persecuting activists. Rather than sue civil society leaders itself, to deflect blame the GOT finds other people to sue activists on its behalf. For example, the month after the opposition Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) announced its former Secretary General Nejib Chebbi would run for president in 2009, Chebbi and Editor-in-Chief of the PDP's Arabic weekly al-Mowqif Rachid Khachana were sued by five vegetable oil companies for libel (Ref D). Not long afterwards, a paper factory brought a separate libel suit against Chebbi. (Note: Tunisian law allows journalists to be sued for damages, regardless of their story's veracity.) By the same token, the GOT can put "on hold" legal actions brought by civil society groups. The unregistered NGO National Council for Liberty and Labor (CNLT) sued the government in 2005 over its registration status, but a hearing date has yet to be set. -------------- Tax Time -------------- ¶5. (C) The tax code is another favored tool to intimidate or punish those who criticize the regime. Several Tunisian activists have been assessed taxes that far exceed their assets. It is likely such penalties are punitive, as the fines often coincide with periods of increased activism on the part of the individuals in question. For example, at the same time Chebbi and Khachana were notified they were being sued for libel, the PDP discovered it was being fined 7,500 TD (US $6,465) because of 600 TD (US $517) in unpaid taxes from 1986. The PDP claims that this error was manufactured by the government, and even if legitimate, it would have been annulled by a general tax amnesty in 2006 (Ref C). Journalist Omar Mestiri and attorney Raouf Ayadi both say they have also been assessed tax bills that exceed their income. Mestiri often authors articles critical of the government, and Ayadi works pro-bono on many human rights and opposition cases. If they are unable to pay the fines, Mestiri and Ayadi could be sentenced to prison. -------------- The Lights Are On, but Nobody's Home -------------- ¶6. (C) Government officials tend to avoid documentation when interacting with NGOs, presumably because the absence of a paper trail makes it difficult for NGOs to prove that they are wrongfully denied government services. The CNLT, International Association for the Support of Political Prisoners (AISPP),and the Tunisian Journalists Syndicate (SJT) have all tried multiple times to register their organizations (Ref F). When they mailed registration information, the forms vanished en route. When they attempted to register in person, officials either refused to accept the documents or refused to issue a receipt as proof the forms were received. On one occasion, the CNLT tried to register accompanied by representatives from Human Rights Watch (HRW),the International Publishers Association, and the World Press Freedom Committee. A government official asked them to wait. After a while the delegation attempted to approach the official again, only to find his office locked and empty. ¶7. (C) NGOs and opposition parties often experience difficulty receiving goods and services from the private sector, presumably due to government pressure. Days before the PDP was to hold a conference, a representative from the hotel where the meetings were to be held called claiming there had been both a flood and a fire in the room they were to use, thus it was no longer available. The manager also said the hotel was undergoing major renovations, of which he had previously made no mention. The PDP's Secretary General Maya Jribi drove by the hotel herself, and said that other than a few cement bags, there was no evidence of significant construction. She also discovered that the hotel staff had been given leave for the three days the conference was to have been held (Ref F). -------------- Stuck Between a Rock and the GOT -------------- ¶8. (C) Human rights defenders also complain that the police do not follow up on the complaints of activists. For example, the day before attorney Ayachi Hammami was due to present a report on judicial independence at a conference in Europe, a suspicious fire broke out in his office, destroying computers in two separate rooms on which the report was saved. PolOff visited Hammami's office, and it was clear that the fire in each room originated at the computers. Hammami opined that it was likely someone working for the GOT set the fires to prevent the report from being released, but that would be difficult to prove since he doubted there would be an investigation. Indeed, there wasn't: Hammami filed a report at the police station, but officials did not follow up on his case. ¶9. (C) The GOT has also been known to outright deny evidence. Though the Embassy frequently points out that the government blocks human rights and video-sharing websites, the GOT consistently claims it only blocks sites that promote pornography or violence. The filtering software used by the GOT is designed to display a "forbidden" error message when users attempt to access a blocked site, but in Tunisia this message has been replaced by a "File Not Found" error message, to disguise the fact that filtering is taking place. In this manner, the GOT can deny culpability even as it expands internet censorship (Ref B). For example, as of May 1, 2008, YouTube Russia (ru.youtube.com) was accessible in Tunisia, but by June 1, 2008 the site was blocked. (Note: The regular www.youtube.com site has long been blocked, but savvy web surfers had been able to use the Russian site instead.) The GOT only unblocked the HRW and Amnesty International websites after the Ambassador passed a non-paper to the MFA on the issue. -------------- Re-defining 360 -------------- ¶10. (C) In some cases, while activists themselves are not the targets of harassment, their family and friends are. Neila Hachicha, the daughter of a former senior ruling party official, founded the opposition Liberal Maghreb Party. The party never received its registration. After she spoke out in the United States about the need for political reform in Tunisia, her husband was sentenced to eight months in prison for violating zoning regulations, and pornographic photos of her daughter were anonymously circulated. Before the human rights NGO Liberty and Equity was to hold elections in June 2008, its founder attorney Mohamed Nouri reported a heavy police presence outside his home and office. He told PolOff that security forces were harassing his clients and preventing them from entering his offices; he also said plain-clothes security forces had vandalized his car and assaulted his son. We have heard similar stories from other activists. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶11. (S) The GOT has a well-deserved reputation for silencing its critics. Sensitive to international criticism, however, it prefers to do so without getting its hands dirty. Despite the GOT's efforts to maintain "plausible deniability" there is little doubt about where the responsibility lies. The incidents catalogued above are illustrative examples that, taken together, paint a picture of how agents of the state have at their disposal a variety of tools to box-in activists -- the only question is how far up the chain of command goes. The GOT is quick to label the problems encountered by civil society groups "private matters" over which it has no control. This tendency underscores the importance of engaging GOT decision makers directly and firmly on the issues that are at the heart of the matter: government-sponsored harassment of perceived opponents, and government-imposed limitations on freedom of expression and association. Otherwise, GOT leaders will continue to deflect criticism by blaming everyone but themselves. End Comment. GODEC