WRITTEN QUESTION E-0250/03 by Olivier Dupuis (NI) to the Commission. Hunger strike by Zouhair Yahyaoui.
Date: 2003-02-05
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU relations, Red Cross, Tunisia, association agreement, human rights, hunger strike, imprisonment, legal system, opposition, prison system

C 161 E/202

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

10.7.2003

(2003/C 161 E/211)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0250/03

by Olivier Dupuis (NI) to the Commission

(5 February 2003)

Subject: Hunger strike by Zouhair Yahyaoui

Mr Zouhair Yahyaoui, webmaster of the TuneZine website, who is being detained at Borj el Amri prison
for his opinions and who was sentenced in July 2002 to two years’ imprisonment for ‘the spreading of
false information’ and ‘fraudulent use of the media’, began a hunger strike on 17 January 2003 to protest
against the lack of proper treatment and inhuman conditions of detention and to demand his release. His
family visited him on 23 January 2003. Mr Zouhair Yahyaoui, looking clearly weakened, repeated that he
was determined to continue his hunger strike until he was released. He confirmed that he had not been
given appropriate treatment, in particular antibiotics, for the infection from which he was suffering and
that he had refused to take the pills provided by the prison service. Since he began his hunger strike,
Mr Zouhair Yahyaoui has remained in his cell and has refused to leave it even to go for a daily walk.

Is the Commission aware of Mr Zouhair Yahyaoui’s hunger strike to denounce, in particular, the inhuman
conditions of detention in Tunisian prisons? If so, what action has the Commission taken to persuade the
Tunisian authorities to adopt appropriate measures as a matter of urgency to ensure that all Tunisian
the
is
prisoners,
Commission’s position on the general amnesty demanded by all the Tunisian opposition movements?

including Mr Zouhair Yahyaoui, enjoy decent conditions of detention? What

(2003/C 161 E/212)

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?