WRITTEN QUESTION E-2597/02

by Olivier Dupuis (NI) to the Commission

(18 September 2002)

Subject: Prison conditions experienced by Mr Zouhair Yahyaoui

In June 2002, Mr Zouhair Yahyaoui, alias Ettounsi, editor of the Tunézine website, was sentenced to three years' imprisonment, following a trial that was a farce (none of his lawyers was able to speak on his behalf either during the initial proceedings or at the court of appeal). He is currently being held at the Borj el Amri prison, where he was recently visited by his family. Although his physical and mental health are excellent, this is in spite of the inhuman conditions in which he is being detained. Prisoners have access to water at very low pressure for less than an hour at night. Most prisoners are suffering from contagious skin diseases which cannot be treated without a proper water supply. Waste and garbage are not collected for days at a time and prisoners are forced to collect them in blankets. The toilets cannot be flushed, while more than 80 prisoners share the same cell, sleeping in pairs on bunks no wider than 75 centimetres. These conditions lead to the spread of odours, cockroaches, fleas, mosquitoes and other insects in unimaginable numbers, preventing prisoners from sleeping by night or day. The food is unfit for human consumption and is served on dishes which are never washed. Only a small part of the food brought by families is given to prisoners at the end of the day, by which time it is no longer edible. The rest in other words almost all of it simply vanishes. This squalor is not the result of negligence or simple lack of upkeep, but is knowingly and deliberately created in order to humiliate prisoners.

Is the Commission aware of the conditions at Borj el Amri prison, where Mr Zouhair Yahyaoui is being held? More generally, is the Commission aware of the conditions prevalent in Tunisian prisons? What has the Commission done, or will it do, to ensure that the Tunisian authorities take all necessary measures as a matter of urgency to provide prison conditions which respect human dignity?

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.