Mohamed Abbou jailed for three and a half years in 2005 for disrupting public order and defaming the judiciary with an article condemning detention conditions in Tunisia was released on 24 July 2007. Front Line has lobbied intensively on this case which was also raised directly with the Tunisian authorities during the Front Line mission to Tunisia in May this year.

Further information

Mohammed Abbou is an eminent human rights defender from Tunisia. He was arbitrarily arrested in Tunis on 1 March 2005, and was sentenced to three and a half years in prison in April 2005. He was charged for publishing an online article, in which he criticized Tunisian prisons, comparing them to Abu Ghraib. According to family members who have visited him in prison he has been kicked and punched by prison guards and denied medical attention. On 11 March 2006, in response to the harsh treatment and harassment and to his unfair imprisonment, Mohammed Abbou went on hunger strike for several weeks, which led to a serious deterioration in his heath. Mohammed Abbou is the former director of the Association of Young Lawyers and is a member of the independent National Committee for Liberties in Tunisia (CNLT).

The case was raised by President Sarkozy on the occasion of his first foreign visit since his election. Asked if he had raised the issue of human rights, he said: "I have come to a Maghreb country which is developing economically and where the leaders recognize that there is progress to be made in this subject."

"We spoke of specific cases," Sarkozy said, citing the case of Mohamed Abbou, who was jailed 2005 for disrupting public order and defaming the judiciary with an article condemning detention conditions in Tunisia.

Mohammed Abbou's wife, Samia Abbou, has been very outspoken in leading appeals for her husband's release. She has organized weekly protests outside El Kef prison and organized a daylong hunger strike to protest against the fate of her husband on 26 October. Since the hunger strike a sizable police team has surrounded her home and access to her road has been limited strictly to residents.