US embassy cable - 05TUNIS2420

C O N F I D E N T I A L  TUNIS 002420 
 
 
NEA/MAG FOR LAWRENCE, GERMAIN 
PARIS FOR NEA WATCHER 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/27/2015 
TAGS: PREL, PHUM, TS 
SUBJECT: FM ABDALLAH CRITIQUES EMBASSY VISITS TO HUNGER 
STRIKE 
 
REF: A. TUNIS 2395 
     B. TUNIS 2329 
     C. TUNIS 2034 
     D. TUNIS 2404 
 
Classified By: Ambassador William Hudson for reasons 1.5 (b) and (d) 
 
1. (C) Summary: Ambassador met with the Foreign Minister on 
October 31 to discuss recent visits by the Embassy to the 
group of eight civil society leaders currently on a hunger 
strike to protest the lack of freedom of expression and 
association in Tunisia, and to demand the release of 
political prisoners (refs A and B).  Foreign Minister 
Abdallah defended Tunisia's record on these issues, pledged 
that further progress would be made, "little by little", and 
asked what concrete steps Tunisia should take.  Ambassador 
reiterated several suggestions, including the authorization 
of new newspapers and NGOs, that we have raised on multiple 
occasions.  End Summary. 
 
2. (C) Ambassador met with Foreign Minister Abdelwaheb 
Abdallah on October 31, three days after a one-on-one meeting 
on Tunisian preparations for WSIS (ref D).  Abdallah began by 
noting the increasing presence of conservative Islam in 
Tunisia.  Ambassador said that Tunisians were widely and 
positively viewed as being religiously tolerant.  Abdallah 
replied that previously Tunisians had been even more 
tolerant, but that there had been a "regression." He said 
that in past decades, during the month of Ramadan, secular 
Tunisians could be observed eating and drinking, even 
alcohol, in sidewalk cafes during the daylight hours of 
fasting.  Now however, such acts would be considered 
scandalous.  Abdallah commented that there is an increasing 
trend toward religious practice among Tunisians and that he 
personally has noticed full parking lots at mosques.  He 
emphasized that there is a careful balance between the "good 
practice" of strong religious behavior, and "deviations" that 
could lead to extremism. 
 
3. (C) Abdallah said he realized the USG and GOT were both 
concerned with the success of the upcoming UN World Summit on 
Information Society (WSIS) to be held next month in Tunis. 
He said that the eight civil society activists currently on a 
hunger strike to protest lack of freedom of expression and 
association in Tunisia, and to demand the release of 
political prisoners, were attempting to sabotage and pull 
attention away from WSIS.  Abdallah said that representatives 
of several embassies had visited the hunger strikers on 
multiple occasions.  (NB: Embassy HRoff has visited twice, as 
have representatives from the UK embassy and the EU 
delegation.  The German ambassador and German Federal 
Delegate for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs Tom 
Koenigs visited the hunger strikers on October 27).  Abdallah 
said that he understood the necessity to visit once, but that 
multiple or regular visits were construed as signs of 
support, and encouraged the hunger strikers.  He stated that 
the office site of the strike was open to all visitors, that 
their phones were not blocked, and that they had access to 
medical care. 
 
4. (C) Abdallah then launched a defense of Tunisia's record 
on freedom of expression and association, saying that the 
freedom that the hunger strikers had to carry out their 
activities demonstrated the GOT's commitment to these goals. 
He then showed a copy of opposition paper Al-Mawqif which had 
a picture of the hunger strikers on its front page.  (NB: 
Al-Mawqif has a distribution of about 4000. Despite the 
presence of journalists from five mainstream Tunisian dailies 
at a hunger strike press conference on October 19, there was 
no other local press coverage).  Abdallah asked if anyone 
could provide a list of the political prisoners currently in 
Tunisian prisons.  He said that the prisoners often referred 
to by human rights groups were in fact "condemned for acts of 
violence" and other security related crimes.  Abdallah closed 
by asking the Ambassador what we would suggest the GOT do in 
concrete, specific terms to show progress in these areas. 
 
5. (C) The Ambassador began by noting the GOT's measured 
response to the hunger strike.  He said that the free access 
to the hunger strikers as well as their ability to hold a 
press conference without interference had been positively 
noted.  Taking up the Foreign Minister's request for specific 
suggestions for positive concrete actions, the Ambassador 
said that the GOT's willingness to make progress on freedom 
of expression issues could be demonstrated, for example, by 
legalizing pending newspaper applications, allowing the 
creation of new newspapers and giving permission to 
journalists to speak more freely.  The Ambassador mentioned 
the GOT refusal to allow the registration of Lotfi Hajji's 
Tunisian Journalists' Syndicate (ref C), as both a freedom of 
expression and association issue.  The Ambassador noted that 
the right to free expression and association of non-violent 
groups were at the foundation of a democracy, and that these 
freedoms would help contain, not encourage, fundamentalist 
and violent tendencies.  The GOT needed to take a political 
decision to move forward in these areas. 
 
6. (C) Abdallah responded that these freedoms were important, 
and that Tunisia would make progress "little by little".  He 
said that responding boldly now would run the risk of 
appearing to buckle under pressure from the hunger strikers, 
and that it was critical that "governments be respected." 
Abdallah said there had been some opening up, and that 
another newspaper may begin printing as early as the end of 
this year.  However, he said there were some pending 
applications that would never be approved, because the 
individuals applying were "harebrained", and the GOT could 
not risk "playing with public opinion."  (NB: Abdallah is 
likely referring to well-known human rights activists such as 
Radia Nasraoui and Sihem Ben Sedrine, both who lead illegal 
NGOs and have been personally denounced by GOT officials and 
the mainstream press).  On political prisoners, Abdallah said 
that there may be some prisoners released as per custom on 
the November 7 holiday. 
 
7. (C) Comment:  The hunger strikers have gained enough 
visibility to irk the RCD machine, which is geared up to make 
the upcoming Summit as smooth as possible. Abdallah seemed 
most interested in what the GOT could do to minimize the 
impact of the hunger strike and divert U.S. and other 
countries' attention from the strikers' demands.  The GOT 
continues to maintain that these activists represent fringe 
elements, are potentially harmful to Tunisian society and are 
supported by radical islamists; we continue to maintain that 
their basic demands of freedom of speech and association are 
legitimate and that Tunisia has publicly committed itself to 
reform. 
 
 
HUDSON