Front Line is concerned for the physical integrity of Abdul Raouf Ayadi, after he was attacked by members of the Tunisian security police on 1 November 2007. Members of the security police prevented Abdul Raouf Ayadi from visiting the lawyer Mohamed Ennouri, who is currently on hunger strike. They physically restrained and pushed Abdul Raouf Ayadi to the ground, they then proceeded to verbally insult him and said that he was a traitor as he was ‘sold to the United States’. They then announced to the crowd of onlookers that Abdul Raouf Ayadi was a thief.
Further Information
Posted 06/11/2007 Abdul Raouf Ayadi is a former member of the Council of the Order of Lawyers and former Secretary General of the Conseil National pour les Libertés en Tunisie – CNLT (National Council for Liberty in Tunisia). He is one of the leading lawyers defending hundreds of young men who have been arrested, detained and charged with offences under the anti-terrorist law. This is not the first time that Abdul Raouf Ayadi has been physically attacked by members of the Tunisian security.
Since 2000, Abdul Raouf Ayadi has been targeted by the authorities because of his peaceful human rights activities. His office has been under permanent surveillance by plainclothes police instructed to intimidate his clients. In June 2006, he was evicted from his office without any legal basis, at the instruction of the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights.
On 14 April 2007, Abdul Raouf Ayadi was violently kicked by a police officer of the Bâb Bnet police station in Tunis. Adbul Raouf Ayadi had been preparing to defend a group of young men, who had been charged with offences under the anti-terrorist law, before the fourth criminal chamber of the Tribunal of First Instance of Tunis. Police officers then prevented him from entering the chamber where he was due to defend his clients. On 12 July 2007, Abdul Raouf Ayadi was accused of physically attacking the Chief of Police at Bâb Bnet police station. The judicial proceedings were lodged subsequent to Abdul Raouf Ayadi having lodged a formal complaint of being physical attacked by a police officer from the same police station on 14 April 2007. The judicial proceedings against him remain opened.
On 7 July 2007, one week after he had received an offensive fabricated photograph of his wife and a DVD, Abdul Raouf Ayadi went to a police station on Rue Charles de Gaulle to lodge a complaint. A police officer at the police station was forbidden by a senior police officer to take the complaint. Furthermore, the car belonging to Abdul Raouf Ayadi and his wife have been tampered with on a number of occasions.
Front Line believes that Abdul Raouf Ayadi has been the victim of a campaign of physical attacks, harassment and fabricated legal charges orchestrated by the Tunisian authorities because he is defending the rights of men who had been charged with offences under the anti-terrorist law. Front Line is concerned for the physical integrity of Abdul Raouf Ayadi and his family.
Action Finished:
This Urgent Appeal has now ended. No further action is requested at this point. Thank you for taking action on this case.
Front Line issues Urgent Appeals on behalf of human rights defenders at risk on a daily basis. These Appeals normally remain active on our web site for a period of up to six weeks, depending on the situation. After this time they will be archived. Front Line maintains a watching brief on all these cases but no further action is requested after the six weeks, unless there is a significant development in the case.
