US embassy cable - 05TUNIS1235

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TUNIS 001235 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/MAG, NEA/FO, NEA/PI 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/08/2015 
TAGS: PHUM, PREL, KPAO, KMPI, TS 
SUBJECT: TUNISIA HUMAN RIGHTS DEVELOPMENTS: 05/25 - 06/08 
 
REF: A. TUNIS 896 
 
     B. TUNIS 1201 
     C. WWW.TUNISNEWS.NET - MAY 25 AND JUNE 4 
     D. TUNIS 1148 
 
Classified By: CDA David Ballard for Reasons 1.5 (b) and (d) 
 
1.  SUMMARY:  This cable summarizes significant human rights 
developments during the previous two week period. 
Topics covered are: 
 
-- Case of Mohamed Abbou 
-- Arab Institute of Human Rights Funding Problems 
-- Formation of "Committee for the Defense of Victims of 
Terrorism Law" 
-- Amnesty International Official Refused Tunisian Visa 
-- Petition against the Arab Human Rights Charter 
-- Defamation of CNLT Leader Sihem Bensedrine 
 
END SUMMARY. 
 
Abbou Case 
---------- 
 
2. (C) The appellate trial of lawyer/activist Mohamed Abbou, 
sentenced on April 28 to three and a half years in prison, 
will be held Friday, June 10. (See ref A for background). 
Abbou supporters are hoping for a similar outcome to that of 
fellow jailed lawyer/activist Faouzi Ben M'rad, who was 
released after an appellate trial on May 30.  In the past two 
weeks, Abbou,s wife has reached out to Embassy officers to 
request further involvement of the USG; we plan to observe 
the trial June 10 along with EU diplomats. In a recent 
discussion, Abbou told emboff that she thought her husband 
had "pronounced his death sentence" when he mentioned the 
Trabelsi family in his second internet article on the 
invitation of Sharon to WSIS.  She said that "people from the 
presidential palace told me that it was (Ben Ali,s wife) 
Leila who gave orders to arrest my husband."  Abbou,s wife 
detailed a late-May visit to her husband, jailed in El Kef. 
She said there was no evidence that her husband had been 
physically abused, and that because of the attention given to 
his case, he was sharing a cell with only three others---in a 
cell usually reserved for 30.  In an ironic aside, she said 
that because of this special treatment, about 50 prisoners 
were crowded in another 30-man cell. 
 
AIHR Goes Public on Funding Dispute 
----------------------------------- 
 
3. (C)  The Arab Institute of Human Rights held a press 
conference on June 7 to announce their recent financial 
difficulties due to an alleged GOT blockage of their 
international funding (ref B).  Al Sabah newspaper reported 
that the government's only dispute with the organization was 
that a member of the Tunisian Human Rights League (LTDH) was 
illegally present on the steering committee of AIHR.   AIHR 
director Baccouche told us that this "illegal member" of 
their advisory board is Khemais K'sila, former Secretary 
General of LTDH.  K'sila was arrested in 1998 and sentenced 
to three years in prison on charges of defamation and 
inciting the public to violence, and was released after 
serving only a few months.  After being charged (unjustly, 
according to colleagues) with sexual harassment in 2000, he 
moved to France.  K'sila's designation by the GOT as illegal 
is likely a combination of his previous criminal charges, and 
a RCD-backed ruling that the 2000 LTDH elections were invalid 
since membership cards of LTDH members had not been renewed 
before the trials.  Human rights observers alleged that the 
GOT was concerned that no RCD members had been elected to the 
LTDH steering committee during the 2000 elections, and 
interfered unjustly as a result.  However, Baccouche said 
that K'sila has served on the advisory board of AIHR since 
1997, and that the GOT is using his presence on the board 
only as an excuse to disrupt the Institute's work at a time 
when its profile is increasing. 
 
4. (C) We plan to raise this issue with MFA Director of 
Americas and Asia, Ambassador Atallah at the earliest 
opportunity. 
 
 
"Committee for the Defense of Victims of Terrorism Law" 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
 
5.  (U) On May 25, a group of lawyers/human rights activists 
announced the formation a "committee for the defense of 
victims of the law on terrorism," partially as a result of 
the case of 14 young men allegedly indicted on terrorism 
charges April 22, 2004. A release from the group states that 
10 men were arrested and 4 charged in absentia.  The 
committee is concerned about the "danger" of the 2003 
anti-terrorism law, alleging it confers "absolute 
prerogatives" to the GOT. The committee alleged a lack of due 
process and fair trial in the case of these 14 indictees.  On 
June 4, six human rights NGOs released a shared communique 
stating that police had barred a group of trial observers 
from international and national human rights organizations 
from attending the appellate trial held the same day in 
Tunis.  The communique also alleges that some of the 
indictees were tortured, and gave confessions under duress. 
(Ref C).  The appellate trial has reportedly been delayed 
until June 15. 
6. (C) COMMENT: There has been considerable criticism of the 
2003 Terrorism Law from human rights activists, who charge it 
is too broad and gives even more arbitrary power to GOT 
authorities.  We expect this new Committee may also protest 
the subsequent arrest May 23 of four or more men in the 
northern Cap Bon region, reportedly for accessing 
terrorist-related Internet sites, a case similar to the 
well-known "Zarzis group" of young men arrested in 2003.  The 
allegations of torture and forced confessions in this most 
recent case could well be true.  While we track these cases 
closely in a human rights context, we note that information 
from a variety of non-Tunisian official sources indicates 
that there was good evidence supporting the arrests.  END 
COMMENT. 
 
Amnesty International Official Refused Visa 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
7. (SBU) During the week of May 20th, the GOT reportedly 
refused to issue a visa to Mazna Masri, a member of the 
Amnesty International regional office in Beirut.  According 
to opposition paper al Maouqif, Masri was attempting to come 
to Tunis to participate in a human rights training session. 
The AI office in Beirut sent Mr. Ahmed Karaoud in Masri's 
place, as Karaoud was able to enter on his Tunisian passport. 
 
 
Petition against the Arab Human Rights Charter 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
8.  (U) Over 100 civil society members, professors, and 
lawyers have signed a petition to the GOT to withdraw from 
consideration the passage of the Arab Human Rights Charter, 
currently before the Chamber of Deputies.  The signatories 
are concerned that the Charter is not sufficiently 
progressive on key human rights issues, and would in fact be 
a regressive step, notably as concerns the rights of women. 
 
Defamation of CNLT Leader Sihem Bensedrine 
------------------------------------------- 
 
9. (U)  International and national human rights organizations 
and activists continued to rally behind National Council for 
Liberty in Tunisia (CNLT) leader and editor of banned on-line 
magazine Kalima, Sihem Bendsedrine, who they allege has been 
the target of a GOT-sponsored smear campaign in the Tunisian 
press, after the release of a CNLT report titled 
"Misinformation in the Tunisian Media."   Since early May, 
several pro-GOT Arab-language newspapers, including Ash 
Shourouq, Al-Hadath and As-sarih, have run articles 
criticizing Bensedrine for, among other charges, "media and 
political prostitution" and being "a person struck by 
hysteria and delirium."  Another article claimed that 
Bensedrine was on "a suspicious mission to Iraq" under Paul 
Bremer. In an on-line article on "Index on Censorship", 
associate editor Rohan Jayaskeera countered, "the opposite is 
true.  Bensedrine's program dealt with censorship and the 
threats to Iraqi media rights posed by the U.S. occupation's 
media control strategy.  Sihem is a friend to media freedom, 
not to Paul Bremer." 
 
10. (C) COMMENT:  Detractors of the human rights community, 
including the GOT, often use defamation of character to 
undermine NGO activity; most open critics of the government 
are labeled traitors in the first instance.  Although we 
believe the campaign against Bensedrine is unfounded, it is 
certainly true that Bensedrine's own writings are often 
filled with hyperbole and questionable accusations. END 
COMMENT. 
BALLARD