Amnesty International calls on Tunisia to halt human rights violations
Tunisia, Politics, 6/11/2003

Amnesty International has called on the Tunisian authorities to put an end to human rights violations. In its first main report about Tunisia since 1998, Amnesty International said that the Tunisian security authorities continue violations of international norms and laws of human rights through oppressive detention, torture, and prison isolation.

Amnesty International said "The "cycle of injustice" continues in prisons where diseases run rife in overcrowded cells. Political prisoners in particular are frequently tortured or ill-treated and suffer from discrimination. Many have been kept in prolonged solitary confinement for years. They are denied adequate medical care, education or work and often held in prisons located far from their families, making visits difficult for their relatives. Those prisoners count among them some 103 prisoners who were unfairly sentenced more than ten years ago after the 1992 mass trials of Bouchoucha and Bab Saadoun."

The report about Tunisia which was under the title "the cycle of injustice " said that the authorities extract confessions from the convicted persons by torturing the detainees who are deprived of the right of just trial most of the times.

Amnesty International said that courts should not use any confessions or evidences gained by torture, stressing the importance of the independence of the judicial body in law and practice apart from the hegemony and effect of the executive authorities.

The report called on the Tunisian government not to try civilians in military courts which do not abide by international criterion on fair trial. The organization called for holding accountable all involved in committing crimes of torture, verbal abuse and deaths in prisons.

The researcher at the Amnesty International Jerome Bellione called for stopping indiscriminant arrests, discrimination and maltreatment the civilians got even after they left prison.

Worthy mentioning that the Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali said in a speech he delivered on December 10th, 2002 counting the achievements of his government since he had assumed power in 1987 that human rights fall within the main basic priorities of his government.

Amnesty International said that the gap has been widening between the principles alleged by the government and the reality the Tunisian civilians lived in.

Previous Stories:
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  Two international organizations protest against sentencing al-Yahyawi   (7/1/2002)
  Bin Ali to consolidate rule of law, freedom, human rights, tolerance and solidarity   (5/29/2002)
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