WRITTEN QUESTION E-0263/03

by Olivier Dupuis (NI) to the Commission

(5 February 2003)

Subject: Imprisonment of Hamadi Jebali in Tunisia

Hamadi Jebali, the editor of the weekly newspaper Al Fajr, which is the mouthpiece of the Islamic movement Ennahda of which he is a leader, has been in prison since 1990. In 1992, at the end of a trial which, according to the NGOs present, failed to respect any of the criteria for a fair trial, he was convicted by the Bab Saadoun military tribunal of belonging to a non-recognised organisation and sentenced to 16 years in prison.

On 13 January 2003, Hamadi Jebali went on hunger strike to protest against his conditions of detention and to demand his release and a general amnesty for all political prisoners. He suffers from cardiac insufficiency, and the hunger strike is liable to have serious repercussions on his health.

Hamadi Jebali has been detained for many years in solitary confinement, in violation of Tunisian law, which limits solitary confinement to a maximum of ten days, and in breach of Article 32 of the United Nations Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (1955), which prohibits the close confinement of prisoners and defines this as cruel treatment. On 18 January, the board of Nadhour prison (Bizerte) informed Mr Jebali's family that his health was too poor to permit him to come to the visiting room for their weekly visit.

Is the Commission aware of Mr Jebali's worrying state of health? What action will it take to ensure that the Tunisian authorities guarantee decent conditions of detention for Mr Jebali, including the right to receive proper medical attention? Does the Commission not agree that the issue of granting a general amnesty for crimes of conscience committed in the 1980s and 1990s can no longer be deferred? If so, what action will it take to ensure that the Tunisian authorities take the necessary measures to this end?

Joint answerto Written Questions E-0250/03 and E-0263/03given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(26 February 2003)

The Commission is aware of the hunger strikes undertaken by Hamadi Yahiaoui and Zouhaier Jebali and, through its sources, is following their state of health.

As already indicated in the answer to written questions E-2526/02, E-2597/02, E-2629/02 and E-3031/02, the Commission is concerned at the conditions of Mr Yahiaoui and his fellow detainees being held, particularly in the Bordj el-Amri prison.

Since it replied to those questions, the EU has again drawn the attention of the Tunisian authorities to the case of Mr Yahiaoui and his conditions of detention.

The Honourable Member should know that at the recent EU-Tunisia Association Committee meeting, the EU called on the authorities to cooperate with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on detention conditions in Tunisia.

At a different level, the Commission is helping to modernise the Tunisian justice system through a MEDA programme which is currently in the pipeline. Under this programme measures are planned to support the prisons administration.

The Union has also reminded Tunisia that the fight against Islamic extremism cannot be conducted to the detriment of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. The matter of a general amnesty for certain categories of prisoner has not yet been raised with the Tunisian authorities.