Lawyer arrested for posting an article online (Tunisia)

[struggle4progress]

March 07, 2005, 18:15

Reporters Without Borders has called for the release of lawyer Mohammed Abu who was arrested in Tunis on March 1 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 - the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)- that stipulates that freedom of expression is a "essential foundation" of the information society. How can he boast about having initiated this summit while trampling so openly on its founding principles?" the worldwide press freedom organisation asked.

Mohammed Abu, a lawyer and human rights activist was arrested on the order of an examining magistrate at a court in Tunis. He is accused of publishing an article on the Tunisnews website in August 2004 comparing torture committed against political prisoners in Tunisia to abuses carried out by US soldiers in Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison. <snip>

http://www.sabcnews.com/africa/north_africa/0,2172,99474,00.html

[flamingyouth]

1. Too bad this won't get much coverage

A friend of mine is in the process of moving out of Tunisia. Her husband works for a French firm that, until the first of this month, did business there. They suddenly pulled out and are moving all of their employees back to France.

From what my friend tells me, it's pretty awful there, to put it mildly. :(