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| Prison sentence against Tunesian journalist Abdallah Zouari | Date: 26-08-2002 |
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The EMHRN protests against the 8 months’ prison sentence against Tunisian Journalist Abdallah Zouari. The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) protests against the 8-month prison sentence against Tunisian journalist Abdallah Zouari. The sentence is sending Zouari back to jail only three months after his recent release having served 11 years in prison for “association with an unrecognised organisation.” Abdallah Zouari, formerly working for the banned Islamic weekly al-Fajr, was sentenced on August 23 by a Tunisian court, officially for defying a July 15 interior ministry order banishing him to the small southern Tunisian village of Khariba Hassi some 600 km from the Capital. Zouari unsuccessfully contested the decision and was arrested on August 19 for defying the order. Shortly before that, Zouari was released from prison on June 6 after having served 11 years in prison. He was tried in 1991 by a military court, accused for adhering to the banned al-Nahda Party of which al-Fajr was its mouthpiece. The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network is deeply concerned with the ongoing deterioration of human rights in Tunisia. Journalists, intellectuals and human rights defenders in Tunisia are being subjected to increasing harassment and intimidation by the authorities. Only recently a young Tunisian economist, Zouhair Yahyaoui, also known as “Ettounsi”, was sentenced two years and four months in prison on June 20 for launching the alternative website “Tunezine”[1]. The EMHRN calls for the immediate release of Abdallah Zouari. EMHRN furthermore calls upon Tunisia to respect its human rights commitments according to international standards and as expressed in the Barcelona Declaration to which Tunisia is a part as well as article 2 of the EU-Tunisia Association Agreement. For further information please contact: Marc Schade-Poulsen, Executive Director / Marit Floe Joergensen, Information Officer Euro Mediterranean Human Rights Network, Wilders Plads 8 H, DK-1403 Copenhagen K, Denmark Tel: +45-32 69 89 12 / Fax: +45-32 69 89 01 E-mail: info@euromedrights.net |
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