From: pnmideast@igc.apc.org
Newsgroups: soc.culture.arabic
Date: 17 Aug 92 21:18 PDT
Subject: Lawyers Ctte Report on Tunisia
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1471800185:000:8668
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!pnmideast    Aug 17 21:18:00 1992


From: <pnmideast>
Subject: Lawyers Ctte Report on Tunisia

Regarding the earlier question about the situation in Tunisia, I am
forwarding this report from the Lawyers Ctte for Human Rights on the
detention of Renaissance party members, etc. from PeaceNet.
-Jennifer Smith
(pnmideast@igc.apc.org)

/* Written 11:07 pm  Aug  7, 1992 by awair in cdp:mideast.nafric */
/* ---------- "Lawyers Ctte Report on Tunisia" ---------- */
From: Arab World and Islamic Resources <awair>
Subject: Lawyers Ctte Report on Tunisia



July 14 1992

POLITICAL TRIALS IN TUNISIA


A REPORT OF THE LAWYERS COMMITTEE FOR 
HUMAN RIGHTS RESEARCH VISIT TO TUNISIA,
JUNE 4 - JUNE 12, 1992.

Lawyers Committee for Human Rights
330 Seventh Avenue, 10th Floor
New York, NY  10001
tel. 212-629-6170
fax. 212-967-0916


Statement of Neil Hicks, coordinator of the Middle East and 
North Africa Program of the Lawyers Committee for Human 
Rights, at a congressional Briefing on Human Rights in 
Tunisia and Algeria, Washington DC, Friday June 26, 1992.

-----------------------------

Throughout 1991, there were thousands of political arrests 
in Tunisia primarily directed against supporters and 
sympathisers of the banned "An-Nahda" movement, a 
political party which bases its platform on Islam, and which 
claims to uphold parliamentary democracy, freedom of 
speech and other basic freedoms.  Supporters of other 
political opposition groups were also arrested, but on a much 
smaller scale.

It is difficult to quantify these arrests.  Amnesty 
International, in its March 1992 report, "Tunisia: Prolonged 
Incomunicado Detention and Torture", cited a figure of 
8,000 for the period "since September 1990".  We spoke to 
informed observers of the human rights scene in Tunisia, 
who were not "An-Nahda" sympathisers, who thought this 
was a reasonable estimate.

The Tunisian government has justified this wave of arrests 
by the discovery of an alleged plot for an armed overthrow 
of the goverment.  There were indeed acts of violence, 
attributed to "An-Nahda", such as Bab Souika incident, 
during which one guard was burned to death and another 
severely injured in an attack on a building belonging to the 
ruling "Rassemblement Constitutionel Democratique" (RCD) 
party in Tunis in February 1991.  However, evidence for the 
existence of a wide-ranging coordinated plot to overthrow 
the government is not compelling.

There have been hundreds of trials of "An-Nahda" 
sympathisers during the past year.  Most convictions have 
been for relatively minor charges, such as membership of an 
illegal organization, attending illegal meetings and 
possessing or distributing prohibited leaflets and 
publications.  

Both the trials and the pre-trial period have been marked by 
irregularities.  Detainees have frequently been held without 
access to a lawyer or their family members for longer than 
the ten days permitted in law under "gard 'a vue" detention.  
Dates of detention have been fabricated by the police to make 
the period of incomunicado detention appear compatible with 
legal limits.  Torture and ill-treatment of detainees has been 
widespread and well-documented.

The courts have been unresponsive to lawyers' attempts to 
bring about the release of their clients by exposing 
irregularities.  Lawyers have brought to the attention of 
courts records of interrogations bearing dates prior to the 
officially recorded date of arrest.  Nevertheless, these 
records have been admitted as evidence against defendants.  
Some judges have reportedly refused to hear complaints of 
torture and ill-treatment during interrogation, and proceeded 
to convict defendants heedless of these complaints, and 
using evidence obtained from such interrogations.  Even in 
cases where defendants hae been aquitted by a first court, the 
prosecution has, in some cases, been able to secure a 
conviction on appeal.

Approximately 3,000 "An-Nahda" sympathisers have been 
convicted in trials of this sort to sentences of up to five years 
imprisonment in the course of the past year.  Another 3,000 
to 4,000 have been released without charge or trial.  Others 
remain to be tried.

A series of trials are in preparation before military courts 
where the accused face charges of conspiracy to overthrow 
the government in connection with the alleged "An-Nahda" 
plot.  The first of these, involving 37 low ranking military 
officers began on June 14, 1992.  There are a number of 
other smaller trials scheduled to take place soon, some in 
military courts, some in civil courts.

A major trial involving more than 150 defendants, including, 
in absentia, "An-Nahda" leader Rachid El Ghannouchi will 
take place in the coming weeks before a military court.  
Lawyers from the the defense team told the Lawyers 
Committee delegation that they have not been given access to 
the trial dossier in what is a complex case, involving scores 
of defendants.  This hampers the preparation of the defense 
case, and calls into question whether international fair trial 
standards can be met under such circumstances.  Lawyers 
also complained of poor conditions for their prison visits to 
detainees held in connection with the alleged plot.  Lawyers 
are reportedly subjected to long periods of waiting before 
they are permitted to see their clients.  When the visits take 
place they are short of duration, perhaps five or ten minutes.  
Lawyers are permited to consult with clients only 
individually, not with other defendants as a group.

A notable feature of our visit to Tunisia was the climate of 
fear among the legal community as a result of what appeared 
to us to be government intimidation.  This intimidation has 
taken various forms.  Some lawyers have been imprisoned, 
apparently because of their perceived sympathies for "An-
Nahda".  For example, Maitre Mohammed Nouri was 
sentenced to six months imprisonment in March 1991 for 
contributing an inoffensive article of legal commentary, 
criticizing Tunisia's military courts, to a pro-Islamiste 
newspaper.  While serving his sentence he was implicated in 
the plot against the government and remained in detention, 
under investigation, until March 1992, six months beyond 
the completion of his prison sentence, when he was 
provisionally released.  The treatment of Me. Nouri, who 
was not a prominent "An-Nahda" sympathiser, served as a 
warning to lawyers of the possible consequences of 
expressing opinions which may be construed as in any way 
sympathetic to the "Islamistes".

Another example of intmidation which lawyers mentioned to 
the Lawyers Committee delegation was the series of stories 
which appeared in the government-controlled press making 
accusations of sexual impropriety against Me. Abdelfattah 
Mourou, a leading supporter of "An-Nahda".  In the absence 
of a free press, lawyers said they felt vulnerable to this type 
of character assassination.

In the course of our own visit, the repressive atmosphere 
was visible in various ways.  A number of lawyers, well 
known for their work in defense of "Islamiste" cases, were 
unwilling to meet with us - apparently because they feared 
government reprisals if they did so.  Other lawyers made 
appointments with us only to break them without 
explanation.  It was explained to us that in these cases, 
lawyers we contaced by telephone would be contacted soon 
afterwards by the authorities, warning them against meeting 
with us.  We know that the telephone in our hotel was 
controlled, partly because of these incidents, but also 
because during our meeting with the Minister of the Interior 
on June 9, 1992, he was able to give an account of all the 
places we had arranged to visit in the course of our stay.  
The minister's list included a visit to the city of Medenine 
which we arranged by telephone but subsequently cancelled.

During our visits outside Tunis we were followed by police, 
in a noticable manner, a further disincentive for lawyers, 
already nervous about the possible consequences of a 
meeting, to be seen with us.

This apparent identification by the authorities of lawyers 
with their unpopular clients, in addition to constituting 
serious harrassment of lawyers going about their 
professional duties, also detracts from the right of detainees 
held for their alleged support of "An-Nahda" to receive 
access to adequate legal defense.

(Note: A fuller report on the human rights situation in Tunisia 
will be published by the Lawyers Committee in September 1992.)


------------------------------------------------------------------------

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