US embassy cable - 05TUNIS896

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TUNIS 000896 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR NEA/MAG (LAWRENCE), EB/CIP (SHIPMAN) AND DRL/PHD 
PARIS FOR ZEYA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/29/2014 
TAGS: PHUM, PGOV, KMPI, KJUS, KDEM, TS, ICRC, WSIS 
SUBJECT: GOT RUSHES CONVICTION TO COINCIDE WITH ICRC 
ANNOUNCEMENT OF AGREEMENT ON PRISON VISITS 
 
REF: A. TUNIS 826 
 
     B. TUNIS 894 
 
Classified By: Ambassador William J. Hudson for reasons 1.4(b/d). 
 
1. (C) Summary: A Tunisian court sentenced dissident lawyer 
Mohamed Abbou to a prison term of three years and six months 
following his one-day April 28 trial for two charges.  Abbou 
was arrested in early March for publishing on the 
website/listserve "Tunisnews" an article attacking President 
Ben Ali for inviting Israeli President Sharon to attend the 
November 2005 World Summit on the Information Society.  Many 
in the dissident and diplomatic communities claim this is the 
biggest "political" trial since 2002, and while there were 
irregularities, the sentence was lighter than expected. 
There are reports that senior GOT officials ordered the judge 
to deliver a verdict April 28 "no matter what."  End Summary 
 
GOT Rushes One-Day Trial of Dissident Lawyer 
Mohamed Abbou, Sentences Him To Three And A Half Years 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
2. (U) A Tunisian court sentenced dissident lawyer Mohamed 
Abbou to a prison term of three years and six months close to 
midnight following his one-day April 28 trial for two 
charges.  Legal sources told us early in the afternoon of 
April 28 that the trial judge was under orders from the 
Ministry of Justice and Human Rights to conclude the trial 
that day "no matter what." 
 
3. (U) Abbou was arrested in early March for publishing on 
the website/listserve "Tunisnews" an article attacking 
President Ben Ali for inviting Israeli President Sharon to 
attend the November 2005 World Summit on the Information 
Society, which is to be held in Tunis.  He was convicted for 
that and for a subsequent charge of assault and battery on a 
female Tunisian lawyer that reportedly occurred some time 
ago.  The female victim reportedly suffered a ten percent 
permanent physical incapacity, although Abbou's defenders 
said that medical records in the trial had been falsified. 
Observers cite another article that Abbou wrote, also 
published on Tunisnews in which Abbou urged readers to not 
focus on abuses at Abu Ghraib at the expense of abuses in 
Tunisian prisons.  They say the real reason he was arrested 
was that he crossed several redlines by attacking President 
Ben Ali personally and so vituperatively over the invitation 
to Sharon. 
 
4. (U) Emboffs have had several interactions with the 
"Defenders of Abbou," the group of his supporters who have 
been working to publicize his detention and to secure his 
release.  At Abbou's April 28 trial, which poloff attended, a 
number of them approached him to thank him for the U.S. 
Embassy's support.  The "Defenders of Abbou" had a 
translation committee which provided international observers 
with translation from the trial's Arabic proceedings into 
French.  The pro-Government lawyers also whispered editorial 
comments into foreigners' ears, and at one point poloff had 
simultaneous translations from the two sides on each ear. 
(NB: With a few minor exceptions, the two sides were cordial 
to each other.) 
 
Recap of Trial: A Day At the Justice Palace 
------------------------------------------- 
5. (SBU) The Abbou trial took place in one of the smallest 
courtrooms in the Tunisian courts ("Palais de Justice") 
building.  It was one of several trials scheduled to take 
place in the 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. session.  Abbou's trial took 
place last.  The courtroom -- designed to hold around 100 
onlookers -- was packed with perhaps 500-600 people.  The 
vast majority appeared to be in the room to attend the Abbou 
trial.  Participants said approximately 90 per cent of those 
were pro-Abbou with about 10 per cent pro-ruling party.  In 
addition approximately 15 per cent were women, 5 per cent 
were foreigners, and there were a dozen uniformed police in 
the court room, which participants said was normal.  Abbou's 
trial started a little after 11:00.  When police brought him 
in, all the Tunisians quickly stood up and started singing 
their national anthem loudly.  (NB: This singing also 
happened in the 2002 trial of Hamma Hammami and presumably 
harkens back to the anti-colonial independence movement from 
the 1950s, in which the legal profession was a major player.) 
 The three judges immediately ran out of courtroom.  There 
was an hour delay as police tried to get the lawyers present 
to back up and calm down.  The GOT brought in a retired chief 
of the judicial police (apparently highly respected by both 
sides) to mediate. 
 
6. (SBU) Eventually everyone calmed down, and the trial 
began.  Abbou supporters said the judge was known to be 
pro-ruling party.  Early in the process Democratic 
Progressive Party SYG Nejib Chebbi filed a motion to change 
the trial to a larger courtroom.  The judge responded with 
respect but declined the request.  From there, the level of 
the trial's civility got worse.  Following the French-origin 
court procedure, no witnesses or evidence were heard. 
Discussion centered on whether the judge could combine the 
main charge against Abbou (related to publication of the 
scurrilous article) with the newer one related to the much 
older alleged assault.  The judge wanted to issue one 
combined "process verbale" for both charges.  Lawyers invoked 
a number of technicalities to block the judge and the trial 
was left in limbo.  Finally at around 1:30 p.m. the judge 
adjourned to chambers to deliberate and -- it was said -- 
call the Ministry of Justice for technical advice on a 
solution  to the defense's technical strategem. 
Approximately two-thirds of participants staged a sit in 
(i.e., remained in court room talking).  The final verdict 
reportedly came around midnight. 
7. (SBU) Overall, the trial had a very energetic, charged 
atmosphere.  Police and court officials were pretty calm and 
in control except during the crowd's initial outburst. 
However, they seemed at a loss over how to react to the 
lawyers' technical motion to block the verdict. 
 
Trial Unifies EU ... Sort Of 
---------------------------- 
8. (SBU) A number of international NGO observers attended the 
trial, including Human Rights Watch and Lawyers Without 
Borders.  In terms of diplomatic representation, poloffs from 
the French, Swiss, German, Canadian, Belgian, and British 
embassies also attended.  Two representatives of the European 
Commission also attended. 
 
9. (C) EU diplomats said they planned a joint EU demarche on 
this issue.  They described the demarche as unprecedented, 
since southern European countries have traditionally been 
reluctant to engage the GOT on human rights issues.  The EU 
presidency currently is held by the Dutch, but that Embassy's 
Ambassador and DCM/Polcouns are both out of the country. 
Responsibility was passed to the British, who are next in 
line for the presidency here.  They confirmed the plans, but 
said that the demarche (urging the GOT to release Abbou) had 
not been finalized. 
 
Comment 
------- 
10. (C) Abbou's conviction is a disappointment though not a 
surprise; still, most observers expected a harsher sentence 
-- he could have gotten more than a dozen years.  We expect 
that he will serve two-thirds of his three and a half years 
and then receive a conditional pardon from President Ben Ali, 
as this is the normal practice here.  We will report septel 
further significant information we learn about the EU 
demarche.  We think it interesting that the conviction 
coincided with the ICRC communique announcing its agreement 
with the GOT on prison visits.  Many others believe this was 
an intentional effort to balance the human rights image of 
Tunisia.  It is certainly the case that Abbou was arrested 
and convicted for two reasons more than any others: first, he 
violated publication red lines by attacking President Ben Ali 
personally and baldly stating in print the rumors of 
high-level corruption that everyone here talks about 
privately; second, his relentless vituperative focus on the 
invitation to Sharon to attend the upcoming World Summit on 
the Information Society (WSIS) in November compelled the 
image conscious GOT to want to silence him.  We think the 
chances of his release prior to WSIS are slim to none. 
HUDSON