AAAS Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and Law Program

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AAAS Human Rights Action Network

FACTS OF THE CASE:

On Saturday, 29 July 2000, Dr. Moncef Marzouki received a tersely worded letter from the Tunisian Ministry of Health informing him that he had been permanently dismissed from his position as professor of Public Health at the University of Sousse. He was charged with violating university policy by traveling without permission. Dr. Marzouki received the letter one day after President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali denounced individuals who spoke out against the government abroad as "traitors" and "mercenaries."

Human Rights Watch Middle East & North Africa division believes that the disproportionate action of permanent dismissal demonstrates the extent to which the government uses Tunisian universities to enforce its repressive policies. It appears that Dr. Marzouki is being punished because he recently traveled to the United States, where he spoke to the press and several human rights organizations, including the Science and Human Rights Program, about the continued repression in Tunisia.

This is not the first action taken against Dr. Marzouki by the government of Tunisia. Dr. Marzouki is one of Tunisia's leading human rights defenders. He is the former president of the Tunisian League for Human Rights (1989-1994) and is currently the spokesperson for the National Council on Liberties in Tunisia, an organization that issues reports documenting the government's repression and denial of fundamental rights and liberties.

Throughout the 1990's, Dr. Marzouki was subject to various forms of harassment, including denial of the right to travel. In 1994, after declaring himself the opposition candidate to President Ben Ali, he was arrested for four months. Dr. Marzouki has been followed by the police, his home phone and fax have been repeatedly cut, and his incoming mail arrives opened or not at all. His family has also been subject to frequent harassment, including his brother, who has been jailed three times. Fearing the threats made against his family, Dr. Marzouki's wife and two daughters moved to Europe.

Dr. Marzouki recently remarked that of all the harassment he has dealt with, "the worst sanctions were professional, destroying a life's work." His recent permanent dismissal from the University is not the first denial of the right to practice his profession. Since 1992, he has been prohibited from treating patients in his field of pediatric neurology. In 1994, the Tunisian government shut down the Center for Community Medicine, a clinic he founded, which provided medical care in the poor suburbs of Sousse and sensitized medical students about the role of community medicine in helping poorer populations.

In June, Dr. Marzouki met with staff of the AAAS Science and Human Rights Program in Washington. He acknowledged that when he returned home he would certainly face harassment from the government. When asked if issuing an alert about his case could put him at risk, he replied, "I know from personal experience, danger comes when no one talks about you."

Relevant Human Rights Treaties:

Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

• Article 19: "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers."

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: (Tunisia ratified the treaty on 30 April 1968.)

• Article 19: "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers."

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: (Tunisia ratified the treaty on 30 April 1968.)

• Article 6: "The State Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right to work, which includes the right of everyone to the opportunity to gain his living by work which he freely chooses or accepts, and will take appropriate steps to safeguard this right."

The Human Rights Defenders Declaration:

Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations (Passed by consensus by the UN General Assembly on 9 December 1998)

• Article 11: "Everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to the lawful exercise of his or her occupation or profession."
• Article 12(2): "The State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the [Universal Declaration of Human Rights]."

(Sources of Information for this case include: Personal meeting with Dr. Marzouki at AAAS offices on 29 June 2000, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the National Council for Civil Liberties, Tunisia)

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

Please send telegrams, faxes, airmail letters or emails:

• Express concern that Dr. Marzouki's dismissal from the University of Sousse may be politically motivated in retaliation of his human rights work;
• Request the reinstatement of Dr. Marzouki as Professor of Public Health in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Sousse;
• Affirm the right of Dr. Marzouki and other Tunisians to hold and express opinions about the government, which are rights protected by international treaties to which Tunisia is a State Party and affirmed by international human rights norms;
• Express continued concern for the safety and well being of Dr. Marzouki.

APPEAL AND INQUIRY MESSAGES SHOULD BE SENT TO:

His Excellency Zine El Abidine Ben Ali
President of Tunisia
Présidence de la République
Palais de Carthage
Carthage, 2016
Tunisia


The Honorable Ahmed Iyadh Ouederni
Minister of Education.
Ministere de l'Education
Blvd. Bab Benat,
Tunis, 1030
Tunisia
Tel: (216-1) 263-336


The Honorable Hédi M'Henni
Minister of Health
Ministère de la Santé Publique
Bab Saadoun
Tunis,1006
Tunisia
Tel: (216-1) 560-545

COPIES SENT TO:

His Excellency Ismail Khelil
Ambassador of Tunisia
Embassy of Tunisia
1515 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20005
Tel: 1 (202) 862 1850
Fax: 1 (202) 862 1858


The Honorable Afif Hindaoui
Deputy Prime Minister for Human Rights,
Communications and Legislative Affairs
Palais de Carthage
Carthage, 2016
TUNISIA

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