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Tunisians Await Amnesty
By Noor Al Din Al Ouwadi
LONDON (IslamOnline) - Tunisian human rights sources expressed concern Wednesday over the increased triumph of the government over cases concerning civil political activists and government opponents.
The sources, which requested to remain anonymous, said that, in the past few weeks, Tunisian authorities have intensified efforts to curb the activities of human rights activists, attorneys, independent journalists, political opponents, and university students.
In statements sent to IslamOnline, the sources pointed out Tunisia witnessed several trials towards the end of November. One of those cases was against, and has been labeled, the trial of "Al Ansar", a reference to a previously unknown Islamic group.
Some members of that group in that trial have been sentenced for up to 17 years in prison.
In another recent case, the head of the Tunisian Human Rights Association, Mukhtar Al Tareefi, is among those whose trial has yet to end, and to be continued on January 15th.
On December 30th, Munsif Marzouk, the official spokesman of the National Freedom Consul, was sentenced was sentenced to one year in prison.
Najib Husni, a former judge, was also sentenced to 15 days in prison on December 20th, on allegations of practicing law without a license. But before he was released on January 5th, the Tunisian authority announced that he should stay in jail to serve a sentence that was issued against him back in 1996.
Husni was arrested in 1994 and sentenced in 1996 to an eight-year prison term, but was released at the end of 1996 as a result of international pressure.
He has received many human rights awards in France and other countries. Recently, Tunisian authorities have been considering whether to detain him once again in order that he can complete the 1996 sentence. If Husni were required to complete the sentence, he would remain in prison for another five and a half years.
In another case, Salah Al-Din Al Jorshi, a well-known journalist and vice president of the Tunisian human rights association, is supposed to stand trial in upcoming weeks for joining many others in signing a statement in which they expressed objection to outlawing activities of the association.
Jorshi had appeared for trial Janunary 2nd in the Tunisian capital in response to allegations without any specific accusations.
The following day, on January 3rd, a number of student union activists in the city of Kairaoun were investigated and their trial was postponed to January 24th.
On the same day, Khadoor Al Naghmushi stood for trial in the city of Jandooba, northwest of the capital city of Tunis, as with Mahdi Zaghood, a French citizen of Tunisian origin, who stood for trial in Tunis on January 8th.
Also, Muhammad Muada, of the Social Democratic Movement, confirmed that he was summoned to appear before Tunisian authorities January 11th on accusations of falsifying news.
His summons came after he signed a statement in which he accused Tunisian authorities of taking control of his Movement, appointing a pro government leadership, and preventing the return of the legitimate leadership of the movement while he was in prison in 1997.
IslamOnline sources expressed concerns over the trials, coming at a time when Tunisians were expecting the government to release about 1000 political prisoners, a majority of whom are Muslim belonging to the Tunisian Al Nahda movement.
A large number of those presently in prison have been on a hunger strike the past few months protesting the deteriorating situation in the prisons.
Al Nahda announced last week that its former President, Sadiq Shuru, has been unconscious for the past week in prison due to deteriorating health caused by negligence and lack of medication.
In its statement to IslamOnline, Al Nahda said a number of its former leaders are suffering from serious illnesses in prison, and a good number of them are being kept in solitary confinement as temperatures dip below freezing during the winter.
Human rights groups and French journalists have attacked the renewal of these trials in Tunisia, stating that the government is trying to rid the country of human rights activists and secular opponents after the elimination of the Islamic movement in the early 1990s.
Human rights groups called upon the Tunisian government to release detainees and to abide by its commitment in respecting the rights of
individuals and the second article of the joint European and Tunisian chapter addressing the respect of freedom and human rights.
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