al-Sabah: Tunisia permits international organizations to visit its prisons

Tunisia's minister of justice and human rights, Bashir al-Takari, said that "independent and neutral" international organizations can visit the Tunisian jails.

The Tunisian daily al-Sabah quoted al-Takari as saying " we do not find any problem to that International organizations, which are known for independence and neutrality like the ICRC and the International federation of the Red Crescent, to visit the Tunisian jails." But he, implicitly refused the visit of other organizations like the Amnesty International because of what he called " the difference in the legal nature between the International committee of the Red Cross, on the one hand and the Amnesty International, on the other.

However, local and international legal organizations criticize conditions in the Tunisian jails saying that it has unacceptable practices like torture and single cell imprisonment as well as very narrow cells. However, the Tunisian government says it honor international norms applied on jails and permits a governmental commission to visit it without a prior permit.

It is expected shortly that a large civil prison to be transferred from the downtown of the capital to a new headquarters built currently by the government in a nearby suburb.