Tunisia- Human Rights

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PROMISE UNFULFILLED HUMAN RIGHTS IN TUNISIA SINCE 1987

* * * Lawyers Committee for Human Rights

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October 1993

Since 1978 the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights has worked to promote international human rights and refugee law and legal procedures in the United States and abroad. The Chairman of the Lawyers Committee is Marvin E. Frankel; Micheal H. Posner is its Executive Director; Arthur C. Helton is the Director of its Refugee Project, and George Black is the Editorial Director. Neil Hicks coordinates the Lawyers Committee's program on the Middle East and North Africa.

Copies of this report are available from:

Lawyers Committee for Human Rights 330 Seventh Avenue, 10th Floor New York, New York 10001 USA Tel: (212) 629-6170 Fax: (212) 967-0916

Washington Office:

100 Maryland Avenue, NE Washington, DC, 20002 Tel: (202) 547-5692 Fax: (202) 543-5999

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TABLE OF CONTENT

I. BACKGROUND......................................... ii

A. The New Era: Reforms After November 1987...................................... 1

B. An-Nahda: Political Islam in Tunisia .............. 4

II. POLITICAL DETENTION AND TORTURE

A. Review of Tunisian Criminal Procedure ............. 15 B. Torture ........................................... 18 C. Recommendations ................................... 25

III. POLITICAL TRIALS

A. Military Courts ................................... 26 B. Unfair Political Trials Before Civilian Courts: the Bab Souika Trial ............. 31 C. The Mass Trials of Islamists July-August 1992 .................................. 34 D. Recommendations ................................... 39

IV. GOVERNMENT HUMAN RIGHTS INITIATIVES

A. The Higher Committe for Human Rights and Basic Freedoms and the Driss Commissions ................ 40 B. Assessment ........................................ 45 C. Recommendations ................................... 47

V. NON-GOVERNMENT HUMAN RIGHTS ADVOCACY

A. The Law on Associations ........................... 48 B. The Tunisian League for Human Rights .............. 53 C. Harrassment of the Lawyers Committee Delegation Visiting Tunisia in June 1992 ..................... 55 D. Non-government Human Rights Organizations After the League's Dissolution .......................... 57 E. Assessment ........................................ 58 F. Recommendations ................................... 60

CONCLUSION ............................................. 61

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The report was written by Neil Hicks, Coordinator of the Middle East and North Africa Program of the Lawyers Committee. It was edited by George Black, the Committee's Editorial Director.

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When Tunisian President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali took office in November 1987, he vowed a "new era" of democratic reform and increased respect of human rights. But Ben Ali's promise remains unfulfilled. Facing a significant political challenge from the Islamist movement An-Nahda, the Tunisian government appears to have decided that it would rather remain in power than proceed with its democratic experiment. Tunisia has seen the independence of its judiciary undermined by the encroachment of military courts into civilian matters; freedom of expression and freedom of association severely constrained; lawyers harassed, intimidated and discouraged from representing unpopular clients.

This report analyzes Tunisian criminal procedure, including the use of torture and exessive pre-trial detention. It pays special attention to unfair political trials, including the the mass trials of Islamists in July and August, 1992. Finally, it examines the threats facing non-governmental human rights groups such as the Tunisian League for Human Rights. A wide-ranging set of recommendations lays out specific steps that the Tunisian government should take to bolster the rule of law.

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SELECTIONS

" In May 1989 An-Nahda leader Rached Ghannouchi traveled into voluntary exile in London where he has remained ever since, his criticisms of the Ben Ali government growing increasingly bellicose. Promotional material distributed by An-Nahda supporters has sought to expose the Tunisian government's commitment to human rights and pluralism as a fraudulent facade. While remaining publicly committed to peaceful political change and respect for the democratic process and human rights, the exiled Ghannouchi has become increasingly associated with radical Islamic leaders from Iran, Sudan and elsewhere whose respect for human rights standards is, at best, questionable."

" Despite repeated governmental claims that progress is being achieved in the human rights field, abuses persit, and the government has undermined safeguards essential for the protection of the basic freedoms in any society."

" Minister of Interior Abdallah Kallal told a Lawyers Committee delegation in June 1992 that it would be wrong to lift the ban on An- Nahda because it is a party which claims to be based on Islam. Since virtually all Tunisians are Muslims, the minister argued, no single party can expect to speak for Islam. The Lawyers Committee asked Minister Kallal if the Tunisian people could be permitted to decide for themselves on the merits of An-Nahda's program. The minister replied that the educated urban elite may be able to make this choice, but the Tunisian masses are "simple" and could be misled too easily."

" Abdellatif Tlili, a Hizb al-Nahda supporter, was also reported tortured while being detained in November and December at the Ministry of Interior in Tunis . . . Lawyer Abdelfattah Mourou fell victim to a more subtle form of attack. Mourou, a long-time deputy of Rached Ghannouchi's in the MTI/An-Nahda leadership, was seen as a leading advocate of constitutionalism and non-violence within the Islamist movement. In January 1991 the pro-government newspaper les Annonces published an article accusing him of engaging in illicit sexual practices at his law office. The Bar Association, the Journalists Union and the Tunisian League for Human Rights (LTDH) viewed these unsubstantiated allegations as an attempt to discredit Mourou, and to deter prominent Tunisians from associating themselves with the Islamist opposition. But government domination of the media left Mourou with little opportuinity to defend himself in print, and an attempt to prosecute the editor of Les Announces for defamation of character was rebuffed by the courts."