On 26 November 2010, human rights defender Mr Ali Ben Salem, aged 78 years, was prevented from leaving on a flight from Tunis-Carthage airport to Barcelona, where he was due to take part in a number of events related to his human rights work.

Further Information

Ali Ben Salem is a founding member of several human rights organisations in Tunisia, including the National Council for Liberties in Tunisia(CNLT) and the Association of Former Members of the Resistance (ANAR). He is also president of the Bizerte branch of the Tunisian League for Human Rights (LTDH).

On 26 November 2010, Ali Ben Salem arrived at Tunis-Carthage airport to take a flight to Barcelona, Spain. Around 8:00am, the border police prevented him from leaving the country on the pretext of legal proceedings against him, in particular libel proceedings instituted against Ali Ben Salem in June 2006, following a press release he published on behalf of the LTDH on the treatment of political prisoners in Tunisia.

Since the case was opened in 2006, it has remained at the stage of preparation for eventual judgement.

On November 26, journalist and human rights defender Mr. Taoufik Ben Brik was sentenced by the Tribunal de Grande Instance (Court of First Instance) in Tunis to six months in prison. Front Line expresses its concern at the verdict in a trial marred by several violations of the right to a fair trial.

Human rights defenders Ms Radhia Nasraoui and Mr Raouf Ayadi were subjected to a "Zero six" full body and luggage search on their return to the country. Zero Six refers to the code used in the security database, authorising full body and luggage search and confiscation of documents every time the person leaves or returns to the country. Abdelwahab Maatar was beaten in Sfax airport for refusing to be body searched.

Front Line is concerned following reports that human rights lawyer Mr Mohamed Abbou was again prevented from leaving Tunisia on 3 March 2009. He is a member of the Conseil National pour les Libertés en Tunisie – CNLT (National Council for Liberties in Tunisia). Front Line has issued several urgent appeals concerning Mohamed Abbou, most recently on 17 December 2008 following a previous incident in which he was prevented from travelling.

Front Line is concerned at the smear campaign against Ms Sihem Bensedrine, spokesperson of the Conseil national pour les libertés en Tunisie - CNLT (National Council for Liberties in Tunisia) and chief editor of the online newspaper and radio Kalima. Several newspapers have reported on accusations of opportunism and misuse of funds brought against Sihem Bensedrine by a former employee at Kalima, and depicted her and other eminent human rights defenders as 'radical activists' in apparently orchestrated smear campaign.

Front Line is deeply concerned following reports of the arrest and restricted movement of human rights defenders Zakia Dhifaoui, member of the Kairouan section of the Ligue tunisienne des droits de l'Homme (Tunisian League of Human Rights) (LTDH); Ali Ben Salem, president of the Bizerte section of the LTDH; Mohamed Ben Saïd, member of the Bizerte section of the LTDH; Othman Jmili and Faouzi Sadkaoui of the Association internationale de soutien aux prisonniers politiques en Tunisie (International Association for the Support of Political Prisoners in Tunisia) (AISPP).