AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
Public Statement
AI Index: MDE
30/012/2007 (Public)
News Service No: 233
4 December 2007
Tunisia: Amnesty International
deplores prison sentence imposed on journalist Slim
Boukhdir
Amnesty
International is greatly concerned about the one year
prison term imposed today on Slim Boukhdir, a freelance
journalist, by a court in Sakiet Ezzit (Sfax) on charges
of “insulting a public officer during the performance of
his duties,” “breaching public morality” and “refusing to
show his identity card.”
Slim Boukhdir was
arrested on 26 November 2007 while on his way from Sfax to
Tunis following a summons to collect his passport from
Khaznadar, the Tunis suburb in which he resides. He
appeared before a judge in Sakiet Ezzit the following day
and was prosecuted under Articles 125 and 226bis of the
Tunisian Penal Code.
His trial today
was observed by members of an Amnesty International
delegation currently visiting Tunisia as well as by
members of Tunisian human rights organizations and a
diplomatic representative from the US embassy in Tunis.
During the hearing the defence lawyers highlighted a
series of irregularities in the police and interrogation
reports and asked the court to call and to cross-examine
other witnesses. However, the judge declined to do so, in
breach of the rights of defence, and sentenced Slim
Boukhdir to one year's imprisonment on the first two
charges and an additional fine of 5 dinars (approx. US$ 4)
for refusing the show his ID card. Slim Boukhdir was
immediately returned to Sfax prison while his lawyers
indicated that they would lodge an appeal against his
conviction and sentence.
Amnesty
International fears that this sentence is an attempt to
silence Slim Boukhdir for his criticism of the
authorities. In May 2007, he reported that he had received
death threats following an interview he gave to al-Hiwar
(Dialogue), a London-based TV channel, in which he
criticized members of President Ben Ali’s family. The week
before he received these threats he was the victim of an
assault by police officers. A freelance journalist, he was
formerly employed by Al-Chourouk, a daily newspaper, but
he was dismissed from his job after he used the internet
to publish interviews he had conducted with a number of
government critics and opponents who launched a hunger
strike during the World Summit on Information Society in
November 2005. Prior to his arrest in November 2007, Slim
Boukhdir went on hunger strike himself for 15 days in
protest at official delays in issuing him with a passport.
Slim Boukhdir's
prosecution is the latest in a series of criminal charges
brought against independent journalists and peaceful
critics by the Tunisian authorities. These appear intended
to deter journalists and editors, newspapers and
magazines, from infomenting critically on Tunisian
government policies or the actions and decisions of senior
ministers and officials. Such prosecutions form part of a
wider pattern of repression of dissent which also involves
direct censorship of Tunisian and foreign publications,
including websites, that criticise the government, and
harassment and intimidation of government critics and
human rights defenders through heavy surveillance and
other methods.
Amnesty
International would consider Slim Boukhdir a prisoner of
conscience and call for his immediate and unconditional
release if he is imprisoned as a result of this
prosecution. The organisation considers that he should not
have been prosecuted for the legitimate exercise of his
right to freedom of expression, and opposes the use of
criminal defamation laws to "chill" expression and the
free flow of information and ideas as guaranteed by
international human rights standards such as the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights.
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