Tunisia: Authorities block access to organisations' website

PRESS RELEASE/ALERT - TUNISIA

14 December 2004

Authorities block access to organisations' websites

SOURCE: Human Rights Watch

**For further information on WSIS, see IFEX alerts of 30 and 25 November, 21
June, 18 and 7 May and 1 April 2004, 30 September, 25 July, 12 June, 27, 24,
13 and 5 February 2003**

(Human Rights Watch/IFEX) - The following is a Human Rights Watch press
release:

Tunisia: Police Use Force to Block Rights Meeting
Government Brands Human Rights Group's Gathering 'Illegal'

(Paris, December 14, 2004) - Tunisian police used force to block a human
rights gathering on Saturday, demonstrating once again the state's
intolerance for independent human rights activities, Human Rights Watch said
today.

On a day when Tunisia's state-controlled newspapers headlined President Zine
al-'Abidine Bin 'Ali's achievements on the occasion of International Human
Rights Day (December 10), scores of police in Tunis surrounded the
headquarters of one of the country's leading rights groups, the National
Council for Liberties in Tunisia (Conseil national pour les libertés en
Tunisie, or CNLT). Police blocked access to people hoping to attend the
organization's general assembly, and also brutally assaulted two CNLT
members and another human rights defender.

In recent years, Tunisian police have prevented independent human rights
gatherings on dozens of occasions, often using violence to disperse those
hoping to gain access to the building where the meeting was scheduled.

The repression of human rights gatherings has occurred at a time when
banners around Tunis herald the U.N.-sponsored World Summit on the
Information Society (WSIS), which the city is hosting in November. The
summit is billed as a global discussion of the impact of the digital
revolution and how best to bridge the "digital divide" between rich and
poor.

"In hosting the U.N. summit on the information society, Tunisia wants to be
seen as a global leader in expanding access to information," said Sarah Leah
Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "But
when it comes to its human rights record, the Tunisian government is a
leader in suppressing information."

In addition to preventing meetings of the CNLT, Tunisian authorities are
blocking local access to the organization's website, http://welcome.to/cnlt,
as well to many other websites that focus on human rights and politics in
Tunisia. The official and quasi-official media observe a complete blackout
on the organization's activities and statements.

A government official confirmed that police had prevented the December 11
gathering, saying the CNLT "is not a legal organization." The official,
speaking anonymously to Agence France-Presse, denied that the police used
violence.

Although Tunisia's constitution guarantees freedom of association, Tunisian
authorities have refused legal recognition to every truly independent human
rights organization that has applied over the past decade. In 1999, the CNLT
appealed the refusal of its application by the Interior Ministry, but five
years later the administrative court has yet to hear the case.

In July, police in Tunis blocked another independent group, the
International Association for Solidarity with Political Prisoners
(Association internationale de solidarité avec les prisonniers politiques,
or AISPP), from holding its general assembly in its president's law office.
On June 15, authorities had denied the organization legal recognition.

In the case of two other rights organizations, authorities at the Interior
Ministry have refused even to accept the applications for legal recognition
by the Association against Torture (Association de lutte contre la torture
en Tunisie, or ALTT) and the Tunisian Center for an Independent Judiciary
(Centre Tunisien pour l'indépendance de la justice, or CTIJ).

Although legally recognized, the Tunisian Human Rights League (Ligue
tunisienne pour la défense des droits de l'homme, or LTDH) also faces
constant government harassment. On November 28, police massed in front of
the League's office in Kairouan and set up roadblocks at the entrance of the
city to prevent people from reaching a conference on the recent national
elections. Witnesses told Human Rights Watch that police assaulted Hamma
Hammami, head of the unrecognized Tunisian Communist Workers Party, when he
approached the League office. Tunisian officials denied that any violence
was used. One day before the thwarted meeting, Interior Ministry officials
in Kairouan had warned the League that the meeting could not take place
because its co-organizers included representatives of unrecognized
organizations.

"Tunisian authorities boast that there are more than 8,000 legally
recognized associations in the country," Whitson said. "But as long as the
government bans or harasses the handful of groups that dare to question
government policies, freedom of association cannot be said to exist in
Tunisia."

For further information, contact Sarah Leah Whitson (Arabic), New York, tel:
+1 212 216 1230, Eric Goldstein (French), Paris, tel: +33 145 406 251, Urmi
Shah, London, tel: +44 207 713 2788, or Vanessa Saenen (French, Dutch,
German), Brussels, tel: +322 732 2009, Human Rights Watch, 350 Fifth Ave.,
34th Floor, New York NY 10018-3299, U.S.A., tel: +1 212 290 4700, fax: +1
212 736 1300, e-mail: [email protected], Internet: http://www.hrw.org/

The information contained in this press release/alert is the sole
responsibility of Human Rights Watch. In citing this material for broadcast
or publication, please credit Human Rights Watch.
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