WRITTEN QUESTION E-2629/02

by Olivier Dupuis (NI) to the Commission

(18 September 2002)

Subject: Arrest of the journalist Abdallah Zouari two months after his release from jail

According to the National Council for Liberties in Tunisia (CNLT), the Tunisian journalist Abdallah Zouari has been sentenced to eight months' imprisonment by the district court of Zarzis (southern Tunisia), two months after his release from jail, because he failed to comply with the administrative order imposed on him after his release. Mr Zouari, who is 46 and writes for the newspaper El Fajr (the Dawn), the mouthpiece of the banned Tunisian Islamic movement Ennahdha, was sentenced to 11 years' imprisonment in April 1991 for belonging to an illegal organisation, but was released from jail on 6 June 2002 after having served his sentence. He was nevertheless subject to an administrative order for a period of five years, issued by the Minister of Justice on 15 July and requiring him to live at Khariba-Hassi Jerbi in the Zarzis region. The CNLT has described this order as unlawful since Mr Zouari's family live in Tunis, and Mr Zouari himself filed an appeal against it. Before the administrative court take any decision, Mr Zouari was arrested on 19 August and brought before the district court of Zarzis. During the hearing, the presiding judge, Mr Abdallah Abassi, rejected a request from the Mr Zouari's lawyers for the trial to be postponed so that they could research the case and prepare his defence.

Is the Commission aware of Abdallah Zouari's rearrest and the circumstances in which this took place? In more general terms, how does the Commission view this umpteenth example of a Tunisian citizen being denied his rights? What justification does the Commission have for not taking action to suspend the EU-Tunisia Association Agreement?

Joint answerto Written Questions E-2526/02, E-2597/02 and E-2629/02given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(8 October 2002)

The Commission is aware of the general problem concerning the conditions in which prisoners are kept in Tunisia, and of the particular cases referred to in the question.

No expert opinions or studies specifically concerned with conditions of imprisonment are currently available to the Commission. Not even the International Committee of the Red Cross has access to Tunisian prisons. The Commission regrets this lack of impartial information, which is an additional cause for concern regarding the mass hunger strike.

As the Commission has already indicated in its reply to questions E-1845/02 from Mr Cappato and P-2065/02 from Mr Dupuis(1), it is concerned about Mr Yahyaoui's case, and particularly about the conditions in which he is being held in the Bordj El-Amri prison, as described by other prisoners and visitors.

The Commission regularly draws the Tunisian authorities' attention to the need to respect freedom of expression as an inalienable right and to allow civil society to play more than a token role in public life. With these concerns in mind, the Commission has doubts concerning the re-arrest of Mr Abdallah Zouari and the legitimacy of the administrative measure behind it.

The chief consequence of suspending the Association Agreement, quite apart from the fact that it would take a unanimous decision by the Council, would be to deprive the EU of regular political dialogue with Tunisia and compromise cooperation between Tunisia and the EU, with its beneficial effect on the development of Tunisian society as a whole.

With the goal of exerting a positive influence on Tunisian justice, the Commission is now drafting a judicial modernisation programme. This could include a section on prison reform. In more general terms, it will seek to create a momentum for modernisation amongst the people and authorities responsible for the justice system.

(1) OJ C 52 E, 6.3.2003, p. 107.