(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has expressed satisfaction following Hamma Hammami’s release from prison on 4 September 2002. Leader of the Tunisian Communist Workers’ Party (PCOT) and managing editor of the party newspaper “El-Badil”, Hammami was officially released for “health reasons.” “We are delighted,” said RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard. “It is the result of a months-long campaign […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has expressed satisfaction following Hamma Hammami’s release from prison on 4 September 2002. Leader of the Tunisian Communist Workers’ Party (PCOT) and managing editor of the party newspaper “El-Badil”, Hammami was officially released for “health reasons.”
“We are delighted,” said RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard. “It is the result of a months-long campaign by Tunisian and international human rights groups, and especially by Hammami’s wife, Radhia Nasraoui,” Ménard noted. “We now ask that his release be made unconditional. We also ask President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali to make another significant gesture by freeing cyberdissident Zouhair Yahyaoui, ‘Al-Fajr’ managing editor Hamadi Jebali and Abdallah Zouari, one of the newspaper’s reporters.”
On 2 September, Tunisia’s Supreme Court rejected Hammami’s appeal of his three-year and two- month prison sentence for “subversion”.
On 2 February, in a trial marked by many irregularities, the Tunis First Instance Tribunal sentenced Hammami and two of his associates, Abdeljabar Madouri and Samir Taamallah, to nine years’ imprisonment. The three men had emerged from four years in hiding that same day. On 30 March, a Tunis court revised Hammami’s sentence on appeal to three years and two months’ imprisonment. Madouri received a three-year and nine-month sentence, while Taamallah was jailed for one year and nine months. They were each found guilty of belonging to and operating an illegal organisation (the PCOT), distributing leaflets, distributing false news, holding illegal meetings and inciting rebellion and lawbreaking.
