Archive for Amnesty International

Tunisia: Routine muzzling of dissent mars upcoming presidential elections

Next Sunday, 25 October 2009, Tunisia will hold presidential and legislative elections in which it is virtually guaranteed that the incumbent, Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali, who has been in power for the last 22 years and is now opposed by three other candidates, will be re-elected as president. As well, the ruling Constitutional Democratic Rally (RCD) party is expected to retain a majority of the seats in the parliament.

Tunisia: Behind Tunisia’s ‘Economic Miracle’: Inequality and criminalization of protest

Tunisia’s ‘economic miracle’ has not benefited all, nor has it been matched by greater enjoyment of human rights. This was vividly illustrated during unrest in the south-west region of gafsa in 2008, when peaceful protests by workers and unemployed youths were met with excessive use of force by security forces, arbitrary arrest, torture or other [...]

Tunisia: Appeal Court entrenches injustice by upholding unfair convictions

Amnesty International calls for the immediate and unconditional release of trade union leaders and all those imprisoned for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression and assembly, as their convictions were upheld by the Gafsa Appeal Court. Others should be retried in fair proceedings, in accordance with the fair trial guarantees enshrined in Tunisian [...]

Tunisia: torturing detainees

In spite of this, Tunisia is not widely perceived as a country in which serious human rights violations are committed. Indeed, during a state visit to the country in April 2008, French President Nicolas Sarkozy praised the Tunisian government’s efforts in fighting terrorism and declared that “the sphere of liberties” in the country was improving.

Tunisia: Abuses continue despite official denial

A former prisoner and alleged torture victim whose case was cited in Amnesty International’s recent report on human rights abuses in Tunisia, and two Tunisian lawyers who shared their experience as defence lawyers at a Paris press conference organized by Amnesty International to launch this report, have since been subjected to what appears to be [...]

Tunisie : torture, détention illégale et procès inéquitables

Des centaines, voire des milliers de jeunes gens, y compris d’enfants, suspectés de crimes de terrorisme, ont été arrêtés en Tunisie ces cinq dernières années. Nombres d’entre eux ont été torturés, ont subi de mauvais traitements, ont été détenus au secret et soumis à des disparitions forcées.

Sous la plage, les barreaux !