US embassy cable - 05TUNIS1282

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TUNIS 001282 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/MAG, NEA/FO, NEA/PI 
LONDON FOR GOLDRICH 
PARIS FOR ZEYA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/12/2015 
TAGS: PHUM, PREL, KPAO, KMPI, TS 
SUBJECT: ABBOU APPEAL TRIAL: SENTENCE UPHELD, DIPLOMATIC 
OBSERVERS EXPELLED 
 
REF: A. TUNIS 1235 
     B. TUNIS 1004 AND PREVIOUS 
     C. TUNIS 1201 
 
Classified By: CDA David Ballard for Reasons 1.5 (b) and (d) 
 
1. (SBU) Summary:  On June 10, the Court of Appeal in Tunis 
upheld the three and a half year sentence of lawyer/activist 
Mohamed Abbou (ref a).  The trial was disorderly, and at 
times chaotic, with over 120 lawyers attempting to defend 
Abbou.  Embassy human rights officer attended the trial along 
with diplomatic colleagues from the EU mission and European 
embassies.   Diplomatic observers were allowed to observe 
part of the trial, but were then ordered to leave by the 
presiding judge who claimed that they were "not part of the 
legal system" and that their presence was disruptive to the 
trial.  According to FSN staff, this is an unprecedented 
move.  In the end, the trial was abbreviated and Abbou was 
only asked two questions. Throughout the day, the judge 
prevented some or all of the lawyers that had shown up to 
defend Abbou from entering the courtroom.  Eventually, all 
defense lawyers decided to leave the courtroom to protest the 
"absence of minimal conditions for a free and fair trial." 
The trial has further galvanized the lawyer community, and 
international and domestic human rights groups are calling 
for a strong response from the USG and the EU.  End Summary. 
 
2. (U) On June 10, Embassy Human Rights Officer (HROff) 
attended the appellate trial of lawyer/writer Mohamed Abbou. 
Abbou was sentenced April 28 to a year-and-half prison term 
for "disrupting public order" after publishing an article 
comparing Tunisian jails to Abu Ghraib prison. He was also 
sentenced to two years for the assault of a female lawyer in 
2002.  (Abbou supporters claim this charge is exagerrated, 
and allege the falsification of medical records).  He was 
arrested in March, shortly after writing an on-line article 
condemning the invitation of Ariel Sharon by the GOT to 
attend the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) in 
November.  The article unfavorably compared President Ben Ali 
to Sharon, and raised the taboo issue of corruption among the 
Trabelsi family of Ben Ali's wife Leila.  (See refs a and b). 
 
3. (U) Diplomatic colleagues from Spain, Finland, France, and 
the Netherlands (representing the EU), joined HROff as 
observers at the trial. International representatives from 
Amnesty International, Reporters Without Borders and Lawyers 
Without Borders, members of the French Bar and French media 
were also present.   The diplomatic corps sat together 
throughout the observation period.  Police presence in and 
around the court was significant and police carried side 
arms, which is not usual practice in Tunisia. 
 
4. (SBU) After a considerable wait outside the courtroom 
while police prevented their entry, the diplomatic corps was 
allowed in and was able to observe part of the trial in the 
morning, although HROff was physically blocked at one point 
from entering the room by a man identified as the Prosecutor 
General. Police throughout the day blocked the entry of a 
large number of pro-Abbou lawyers.  (One lawyer told HRoff 
that of the 800 lawyers that have joined the "Free Abbou" 
cause, 120 were present at the Court of Appeal).  The 
atmosphere in the court was disorderly, at times chaotic, and 
generally theatrical.  At any given time, there were at least 
40 lawyers crowding the front of the small court room, taking 
the opportunity of a large audience to make dramatic 
pronouncements on the unfair nature of the charges.  When the 
judge left the court, lawyers stood on the court benches to 
rally the overwhelmingly pro-Abbou crowd, and make broad 
allegations against the government.  ("This is the nature of 
the regime; they send the police to talk to lawyers instead 
of judges!") 
 
5. (U) In the morning, discussion between the lawyers and the 
judge was heated and focused solely on access to the 
courtroom for all the lawyers defending Abbou.  Approximately 
40 of the reported 120 lawyers were present in the courtroom 
at first, while those outside yelled and banged on the door 
during the trial until the court was eventually opened to 
all.  Discussion was also held on how the lawyers would 
present their case given the large number of defenders 
present. 
 
6. (U) Abbou appeared in good health, and was met upon entry 
with shouts of support.  After only 10 minutes of actual 
trial proceedings, during which the judge asked if Abbou had 
pushed his accuser, and if he had written the article in 
question, the judge stated that the lawyers, who were 
speaking frequently and apparently out of turn, were not 
respectful of the court, and ordered that the court room be 
completely emptied.   Uniformed police informed the 
diplomatic observer group that they should leave as well, by 
order of the judge.   Some of the lawyers, however, refused 
to leave the room and urged diplomatic representatives to 
remain. 
 
7. (U) About 50 lawyers remained in the courtroom, in 
defiance of the judge's order, while the diplomatic corps 
joined the large crowd in the hall outside.  Police, carrying 
sidearms, joined the security forces already present. 
However, HRoff did not observe any attempt to physically 
remove the lawyers from the courtroom.  (One Abbou lawyer 
asked HRoff if he had been pushed by the police, and if he 
had seen them push the lawyers.  The answer was no to both, 
although there were basic crowd control measures such as 
human barricades).  Finally, the police informed the 
diplomatic observers that they could re-enter the courtroom. 
However, almost immediately after entering and taking the 
bench, the judge told the leading defense council that the 
diplomatic observers were not part of the legal system, and 
should not be present at the trial.  She further said that 
the presence of these observers was disturbing to the trial. 
After hearing the order from the defense council, the 
diplomatic corps left the courtroom. 
 
8. (U) According to Embassy lawyer contacts also present at 
the trial, all defense lawyers decided to leave the courtroom 
in protest shortly after the diplomatic corps was expelled. 
In a communique released by the International Committee for 
the Liberation of Mohamed Abbou the lawyers claimed, "the 
minimal conditions of freedom and fairness in the trial were 
not guaranteed".)  Later on June 10,  the judge announced 
that the Court of Appeal upheld the original sentence of 
three and a half years. 
 
9. (C) COMMENT:  The chaotic trial, complete with shouting 
lawyers and armed police, did nothing to improve the GOT's 
image regarding the Abbou case, which continues to galvanize 
the legal and NGO community.  Although the judge was probably 
within her rights to request the removal of groups she 
considered disruptive from the court room, we believe this 
marks the first time diplomatic observers have been expelled 
from proceedings. Human rights groups, in Tunisia and 
internationally, have called for a strong response from the 
USG and the EU given the stark lack of respect for minimal 
judicial rights during the trial and the expulsion of the 
diplomatic observers.  CDA plans to raise this issue, along 
with our concerns about the recent blocking of funding to the 
Arab Institute for Human Rights (AIHR) (ref c), with the MFA 
on June 11. 
BALLARD