Return-Path: Received: from host.oil.ca ([206.186.236.1]) by mailin03.btx.dtag.de with smtp id <11djez-001uAXc>; Wed, 20 Oct 1999 02:31:20 +0200 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by host.oil.ca (8.8.7/8.8.7) id HAA28197 for amnesty-l.list; Tue, 19 Oct 1999 07:56:32 -0400 Received: from amnesty.oil.ca (amnesty@amnesty.oil.ca [206.186.236.10]) by host.oil.ca (8.8.7/8.8.7) with ESMTP id HAA28194 for ; Tue, 19 Oct 1999 07:56:30 -0400 From: amnesty@amnesty.oil.ca Received: (from amnesty@localhost) by amnesty.oil.ca (8.8.7/8.8.7) id GAA23312; Tue, 19 Oct 1999 06:28:51 -0400 Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1999 06:28:51 -0400 Message-Id: <199910191028.GAA23312@amnesty.oil.ca> To: amnesty-L@oil.ca, swt@stanford.edu Subject: TUNISIA: Human rights defenders increasingly targeted Sender: owner-amnesty-l@oil.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: owner-amnesty-l@host.oil.ca * News Release Issued by the International Secretariat of Amnesty International * News Service 195/99 AI INDEX: MDE 30/35/99 18 October 1999 Tunisia Human rights defenders increasingly targeted Surveillance and harassment of human rights defenders in Tunisia has been stepped up once again, Amnesty International warned today as it reiterated its call to the Tunisian Government to finally put an end to such practices. "Not only are human rights defenders and lawyers -- who work on the human rights situation in Tunisia -- continuously harassed and intimidated, including being arrested and imprisoned, members of Amnesty International's Tunisian Section are also increasingly targeted," the organization said. "This is despite the fact that they do not engage in fact-finding or campaigning activities concerning the human rights situation in their own country." Members of Amnesty International in Tunisia, including the President of the organization's International Executive Committee (IEC), the supreme body of the Amnesty International movement worldwide, are under close surveillance. Some have had their telephone lines, e-mail and regular mail intercepted or interfered with, others have been questioned by plainclothes security agents about meetings and other activities of the Amnesty International Tunisian Section, and others still have been pressured to "cooperate" with the security forces by providing them with information about such meetings and activities. The Amnesty International office in Tunis is under constant police surveillance. Those questioned by security agents were told that they could expect further problems if they refused to "cooperate" or persisted in continuing their activities with the Tunisian Section of Amnesty International. Amnesty International and other international human rights organizations have on many occasions in recent years expressed their concern at the continuing harassment and intimidation of human rights defenders in Tunisia, and have called on the Tunisian authorities to put an end to such practices. "The Tunisian authorities lose no opportunity to publicly reiterate their commitment to human rights protection and promotion but this discourse sounds increasingly hollow in the face of such targeting of human rights defenders," Amnesty International said. Today, the organization is once again calling on them to adhere to the numerous international human rights treaties ratified by Tunisia by taking prompt and concrete measures to ensure that the harassment, surveillance and intimidation of all human rights defenders in Tunisia -- both the members of Amnesty International and others -- is stopped. Also see, Tunisia: Human Rights defenders at risk, 26 May 1999; Joint Statement with Amnesty International (AI), Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Human Rights Watch, Lawyers Committee for Human Rights (LCHR), Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF), and the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a program of the International Federation of Leagues of Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT). ENDS.../ Amnesty International, International Secretariat, 1 Easton Street, WC1X 8DJ, London, United Kingdom **************************************************************** You may repost this message onto other sources provided the main text is not altered in any way and both the header crediting Amnesty International and this footer remain intact. Only the list subscription message may be removed. **************************************************************** To subscribe to amnesty-L, send a message to with "subscribe amnesty-L" in the message body. To unsubscribe, send a message to with "unsubscribe amnesty-L" in the message body. If you have problem signing off, contact . handles only messages concerning list administration. Past and current Amnesty news services can be found at . Visit for information about Amnesty International and for other AI publications. Contact amnestyis@amnesty.org if you need to get in touch with the International Secretariat of Amnesty International.