(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has called for the release of lawyer Mohammed Abu, who was arrested in Tunis on 1 March 2005 for posting an article online dealing with the torture of political prisoners in Tunisia. “We would like to remind President Ben Ali that he approved the final statement of the last UN summit on […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has called for the release of lawyer Mohammed Abu, who was arrested in Tunis on 1 March 2005 for posting an article online dealing with the torture of political prisoners in Tunisia.
“We would like to remind President Ben Ali that he approved the final statement of the last UN summit on the Internet (World Summit on the Information Society -WSIS) that stipulates that freedom of expression is an “essential foundation” of the information society. How can he boast about having initiated this summit while trampling so openly on its founding principles?” RSF asked.
Abu, a lawyer and human rights activist, was arrested on the order of a Tunis lower court’s examining magistrate. He is accused of publishing an article on the Tunisnews website in August 2004, which compared torture committed against political prisoners in Tunisia to abuses carried out by US soldiers in Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison. He expressed surprise that Tunisian criticism only applied to events taking place 2,400 kilometres away and not to the failings of its own regime.
The lawyer was charged, under both the Press and Penal Codes, for “publishing false reports inclined to disturb public order”, “insult to the judiciary”, “inciting the population to break the country’s laws” and “publishing articles inclined to disturb public order”. He faces a prison term of up to 10 years.
On 28 February 2005, Abu posted an article on the same site about Tunisia’s invitation to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to attend the second phase of the WSIS in Tunis. In the article, he made an ironic comparison between Ariel Sharon and Ben Ali, whom he said were leaders made from the same mould. It is thought this article may also have triggered his arrest.
Abu has been held since 2 March in the 9 April Prison in Tunis.
