(New York, March 17, 2003)
Lawyers in Tunisia are paying a stiff price for their growing human rights activism, Human Rights Watch said today.
"Lawyers, like all Tunisians
who publicly demand respect for human rights, are facing a campaign of
intimidation, violence and legal maneuvers waged by a government
determined to silence them."
Hanny Megally
Executive Director,
Middle East and North Africa Division
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In a briefing paper released
today, Human Rights Watch documents a series of recent measures that
heighten pressure on lawyers who criticize the government.
"Lawyers, like all Tunisians who
publicly demand respect for human rights, are facing a campaign of
intimidation, violence and legal maneuvers waged by a government
determined to silence them," said Hanny Megally, executive director of
Human Rights Watch's Middle East and North Africa division.
In December, plainclothes police
assaulted several lawyers in separate incidents in downtown Tunis with
complete impunity. Tunisian authorities have also refused to legalize
two human rights organizations founded recently by lawyers. And the
independent-minded leadership of the national Bar Association is
currently fighting a lawsuit challenging its authority to call a
strike.
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