Human Rights Watch: Tunisia pledges to end long solitary confinement
Tunisia, Politics, 4/22/2005

"Human Rights Watch" organization announced that the Tunisian government vowed to immediately stop putting Islamists detainees in solitary confinement. A measure, the organization says, targeted scores of prisoners many of them isolated for tens of years.

The director of research in the organization Erick Goldstein said in a press conference in Tunisia on Wednesday that he had received guarantees from the Tunisian government permitting the representatives of the Red Cross to visit the jails. This was, however, after Human Rights Watch was able for the first time in 9 years to perform its work in Tunis.

Human Rights Watch said: The Tunisian government promised Tuesday that it will no longer place prisoners in solitary confinement for more than 10 days, Human Rights Watch said. In addition, the government also approved access for Human Rights Watch to Tunisian prisons, where prisoners have been held in isolation for years on end.

The organization added "The Tunisian government's decision is a welcome step toward ending the brutal practice of holding prisoners in prolonged isolation," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "We stand by the conclusions of our report, and look forward to gaining access to Tunisian prisons to help ensure that the government fully implements its promises." Ê
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Human Rights Watch said: Earlier today in the Tunisian capital, Human Rights Watch released a report charging that the government is holding as many as 40 political prisoners against their will in prolonged solitary confinement or "small group isolation."
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The Tunisian government told Human Rights Watch researchers that they could visit prisons on their next visit to the country. No independent human rights organization has been granted access to prisons in Tunisia since 1991, when the Tunisian League for Human Rights was allowed to conduct a single visit, the organization said.

Previous Stories:
  Tunisian police bans a demonstration against Sharon's visit   (4/9/2005)
  Tunisian lawyers observe sit-in to release Muhammad Abou   (4/7/2005)
  The most famous Internet prisoner in Tunisia dies   (3/14/2005)
  Open debate needed on freedom of expression in Tunisia   (3/2/2005)

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