Drawing by Zouhair Yahyaoui
BACKGROUND
French colonial rule came to an end in 1956, and Tunisia was led for three decades by Habib Bourguiba, who persisted with an anti-Islamic fundamentalist line while increasing his own powers to become a virtual dictator.
In 1987 Bourguiba was dismissed on grounds of senility and Zine El Abidine Ben
Ali came into office. President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali announced far-reaching reforms aimed at marking a change from his predecessor
whose government had severely curtailed civil and political freedoms. Political
prisoners were released under a general amnesty. The government ratified international human rights treaties,
including the Convention Against Torture. It reformed the Penal Procedure Code, abolished the State Security Court, authorized political parties and held legislative elections.
However, these positive developments were undermined by a rapid deterioration of relations between the ruling party, the
Rassemblement Constitutionnel Democratique (Democratic Constitutional Rally - RCD) and some elements of the opposition. To prevent increasingly popular Islamist movements from growing in influence the authorities proscribed parties based on religion.
The Mouvement de la Tendance Islamique (Movement of the Islamic Tendency - MTI), the mainstream Islamist movement in Tunisia, attempted to form a political party,
Ennahda(Renaissance), but was denied legal authorisation in June 1989. A widespread clampdown on Islamist activists and sympathizers has ensued and writers and journalists have also been victims of repression.
When Arab states' ministers met in Tunis in January 2003 to agree on a strategy to
combat "terrorism", they left the way open to broaden provisions of the
1998 Arab Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism dealing with the media to
include the Internet. In particular it was agreed that printing or publishing
anything which might promote or encourage "terrorism" should be a criminally
punishable offense. In the absence of a clear legal definition of terms like "terrorism", "violence", terrorist "purposes" and "attacks", there is a risk that the Convention will be further abused to punish people for non-violent acts, including those related to freedom of expression.
At present PEN is extremely concerned about the continued detention of the journalist Zouhair Yahyaoui who was arrested following the publication of reports of human rights violations in Tunisia on his website, Tunezine.com. You may read more about Yahyaoui
by clicking here.
RECENT NEWS
According to a recent communiqué sent to PEN and other freedom of expression organizations, Zouhair Yahyaoui's health continues to deteriorate. Despite his pain, he is considering beginning another
hunger strike to protest the conditions of his imprisonment. He needs medical care more urgently than ever.
In addition, On August 29th, journalist Abdallah Zouari was sentenced to nine months in prison by a local court in Zarzis for "failing to obey an administrative decision." He has been on a hunger-strike since his arrest on August 17th in the market place in Ben Guerdane (500 km south of Tunis).
The 46-year-old journalist, who worked for Al Fajr, an unofficial Islamist publication that supports the Islamist opposition movement Ennahda, was released on June 6th last year after 11 years in prison and ordered to live in the southeastern town of Zarzis, far from his family in Tunis.
Reporters Without Borders denounced the jail sentence upheld against Abdallah Zouari, as "grotesque and disgraceful." "The abuses against him by the Tunisian legal system are continuing, unsurprisingly under President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali's authoritarian regime," said Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Robert Ménard.
His lawyers said the order banned him from leaving Médnine province (which includes Zarzis) and that he was in the province when arrested by plainclothes police. Zouari said police had harassed him and continually tried to restrict his movements.
On July 18th, the Zarzis district court sentenced Zouari to four months in prison for "defamation" as a result of an argument with an Internet café manager who refused to give him access to the Internet. He has not yet begun serving this sentence because his lawyers appealed against the conviction and the appeal has not yet been heard.
Please write a polite letter in English or in French to the Tunisian authorities expressing concern over
the continued imprisonment of Zouhair Yahyaoui and the recent sentence handed down to Abdallah Zouari. You may copy the suggested text for your
appeal or create your own. Postage is 80¢.
Date
President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali
President of the Republic of Tunisia
Presidential Palace
Tunis
Tunisia
Fax +216 71 744 721
Your Excellency,
As one of the 2,700 writers who are members of PEN American Center, I am
writing to express my grave concern regarding the continued detention of Zouhair Yahyaoui and
and the recent sentence handed down to Abdallah Zouari.
As you know, Mr. Yahyaoui was sentenced to two years and four months' imprisonment by the Tribunal de Première Instance in Tunis on June 20, 2002. He received one year for "propagation of false news" and a further year and four months for "non-authorized usage of an Internet connection" and "theft from an employer." However, PEN fears that Mr. Yahyaoui's imprisonment may stem from the content of his internet publication, TUNeZINE.com, and as such, would be in violation of his right to freedom of expression as guaranteed by Article 19 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Mr. Zouari, who works for al-Fajir, an unofficial Islamist publication, was sentenced to nine months in prison on August 29th for "failing to obey an administrative decision". Although
he was allowed by the banishment order to move freely throughout the governorate of Médnine, he was arrested on August 17th in the Ben Guerdane market. PEN is concerned that Mr. Zouari has been sentenced solely for the peaceful expression of his opinions.
I respectfully ask that you please reconsider Mr. Yahyaoui's and Mr. Zouari's cases, quash their sentences, and release them immediately and unconditionally. I also ask that you ensure that Zouhair Yahyaoui
receives adequate medical attention as a matter of urgency.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
[Your name and signature]
Cc:
H. E. Hatem Atallah
Embassy of Tunisia to the United States
1515 Massachusetts Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20005
Fax: (202)862-1858
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