Tunisia: Putting Bush’s Initiative on the Line
An ally in U.S. antiterrorism efforts, Tunisia’s president was the first Arab leader invited to the White House after President Bush announced plans to promote democracy in the Middle East. Human Rights Watch told Bush that the credibility of his project was on the line, and urged him to tell President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali that Tunisia’s policies of repression were incompatible with his initiative for democracy in the region.
“Tunisia bills itself as a moderate Muslim nation,” said Joe Stork, acting executive director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa division. “But there is nothing moderate in the way authorities repress nearly all forms of dissent.”
Ben Ali, who came to power in 1987 and has been reelected by an official tally of more than 99% of the vote, carries out its repression of dissent. Human Rights Watch has documented how human rights defenders are harassed and assaulted in Tunisia. Tunisian prisons hold hundreds of political prisoners, and the judiciary lacks independence. http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/02/13/tunisi7477.htm
Apart from a few low-circulation magazines, none of the Tunisian print or broadcast media offer critical coverage of government policies—and none of them covered President Bush’s public rebuke to Ben Ali, which Human Rights Watch and other rights organizations had pushed for.
“The President emphasized to President Ben Ali his desire for Tunisia to move ahead in areas such as press freedom, the rights of Tunisians to organize and work peacefully for reform, the need for free and competitive elections, and equal justice under law,” the White House press secretary announced after the two leaders met on February 18.
During a visit to Tunis in December, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell had urged political reforms and greater openness in Tunisia. When Ben Ali visited the State Department a day before meeting with Bush, Powell spelled out his concerns.
“I also mentioned to the President that we had some continuing concerns with respect to political reform, with respect to media access and other similar issues where I think Tunisia could do more,” Powell said after the meeting. “And in a spirit of friendship, I laid out those items to him.”
Find out more about human rights in Tunisia at:
http://hrw.org/doc/?t=mideast&c=tunisi
Human Rights Watch http://www.hrw.org
An ally in U.S. antiterrorism efforts, Tunisia’s president was the first Arab leader invited to the White House after President Bush announced plans to promote democracy in the Middle East. Human Rights Watch told Bush that the credibility of his project was on the line, and urged him to tell President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali that Tunisia’s policies of repression were incompatible with his initiative for democracy in the region.
“Tunisia bills itself as a moderate Muslim nation,” said Joe Stork, acting executive director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa division. “But there is nothing moderate in the way authorities repress nearly all forms of dissent.”
Ben Ali, who came to power in 1987 and has been reelected by an official tally of more than 99% of the vote, carries out its repression of dissent. Human Rights Watch has documented how human rights defenders are harassed and assaulted in Tunisia. Tunisian prisons hold hundreds of political prisoners, and the judiciary lacks independence. http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/02/13/tunisi7477.htm
Apart from a few low-circulation magazines, none of the Tunisian print or broadcast media offer critical coverage of government policies—and none of them covered President Bush’s public rebuke to Ben Ali, which Human Rights Watch and other rights organizations had pushed for.
“The President emphasized to President Ben Ali his desire for Tunisia to move ahead in areas such as press freedom, the rights of Tunisians to organize and work peacefully for reform, the need for free and competitive elections, and equal justice under law,” the White House press secretary announced after the two leaders met on February 18.
During a visit to Tunis in December, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell had urged political reforms and greater openness in Tunisia. When Ben Ali visited the State Department a day before meeting with Bush, Powell spelled out his concerns.
“I also mentioned to the President that we had some continuing concerns with respect to political reform, with respect to media access and other similar issues where I think Tunisia could do more,” Powell said after the meeting. “And in a spirit of friendship, I laid out those items to him.”
Find out more about human rights in Tunisia at:
http://hrw.org/doc/?t=mideast&c=tunisi
Human Rights Watch http://www.hrw.org