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Tunisia: Burglary of offices of Tunisian League for the Defence of Human Rights in run-up to electionsposted on: 2011/10/19

On the night of 16 October 2011, the offices of the Ligue Tunisienne pour la défense des Droits de l'Homme (LTDH) (Tunisian League for the Defence of Human Rights) in the Amran neighbourhood of Tunis were broken into by hitherto unknown persons.

Values?

It was inspiring to listen to Thomas Hammarberg in Dublin on Wednesday. The Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe was hugely impressive in a question and answer session that ranged from bullying on social networking sites, to the rights of Roma and Irish Travellers, to the situation of human rights defenders in Chechnya and Serbia.

One of the most powerful points he made was about what he described as a crisis in European values. He spoke about the difficulties posed by the arrival of 23/24,000 migrants in Italy from Tunisia. Migrants who mostly will not have a legitimate fear of persecution and will therefore eventually be returned to Tunisia. In spite of the relatively small numbers it has sparked racist rhetoric from Berlusconi and moves to close borders within the European Union.

At the same time the fragile new Government in Tunisia has accepted 260,000 to 270,000 refugees from Libya without closing the border. Who would you be more proud of?

Not those who run Formula 1 motor racing. F1 lives in a parallel universe where ethics are aerodynamic and sponsored by multinationals.

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Recent Reports from Tunisia

Reports received this morning indicate that 3000 people are demonstrating outside the offices of the Prime Minister demanding further reform and a complete break with the Ben Ali regime.

All now seems to depend on the attitude of the army and whether they decide to intervene.Front Line is calling on the new government to take immediate steps to ensure that human rights defenders are no longer targeted and are able to go about their work freely.

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Recent Reports from Tunisia

Reports received this morning indicate that 3000 people are demonstrating outside the offices of the Prime Minister demanding further reform and a complete break with the Ben Ali regime.

All now seems to depend on the attitude of the army and whether they decide to intervene.Front Line is calling on the new government to take immediate steps to ensure that human rights defenders are no longer targeted and are able to go about their work freely.

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Tunisia – Travel ban against human rights defender Mr Ali Ben Salemposted on: 2010/12/02

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.

Dublin: Open letter to President of the Republic of Tunisia expressing concern regarding the adoption of an amendment criminalising contacts between Tunisian human rights defenders and EU institutionsposted on: 2010/07/22

A coalition of international human rights organisations, including Front Line, today (Thursday 22 July 2010) called on the Government of Tunisia expressing their deep concern regarding a newly adopted amendment to the Criminal Code of Tunisia that risks to further hinder the work carried out by Tunisian human rights defenders and undermine the protection and promotion of human rights in the country.

Tunisia: UPDATE, Arrest of journalist, Mr Dhafer Otay, and harassment of Radio Kalima staff and other human rights defendersposted on: 2009/01/28

Front Line is concerned following information received regarding the arrest, on 27 January 2009, of journalist Mr Dhafer Otay, coordinator of Radio Kalima, and the harassment of other human rights defenders and journalists. This morning (Friday 30 Jan), police raided the offices of Radio Kalima, cut the telephone lines and seized the radio equipment.

Tunis: Release of human rights defender Zakia Dhifaouiposted on: 2008/11/12

Front Line welcomes the release of human rights defender Zakia Dhifaoui,member of the Kairouan section of the Ligue tunisienne des droits de l'Homme (Tunisian League of Human Rights)(LTDH), on the 5th of November 2008. Zakia Dhifaoui was released under a Presidential amnesty.

Tunisia: Arrest and restricted movement of human rights defendersposted on: 2008/08/06

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).

Tunisia: Release of human rights defender Slim Boukhdirposted on: 2008/07/24

Front Line welcomes the release of human rights defender and journalist Slim Boukhdir on 21 July 2008. Slim Boukhdir was arrested on 26 November 2007 and sentenced to one year's imprisonment on 18 January 2008. He was detained in Sfax prison, 230 kilometres south of Tunis. His release comes four months before the end of his sentence.