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Letter of Appeal from the AAAS Committee on Scientific Freedom and Responsibility

23 March 2001


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


Dear Mr. President:

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is the largest organization of natural and social scientists in the United States, and the world's largest federation of scientific organizations, with 145,000 individual members and 300 affiliated groups. Our AAAS Committee on Scientific Freedom and Responsibility was formed in 1976 to protect the human rights of scientists and to deal with issues relating to scientific freedom worldwide.

On behalf of the Committee, I am writing to express grave concern about the recent attacks on academics in Tunisia. It is my understanding that Prof. Khadija Cherif, a sociologist at the University of Tunis, was attacked twice this month. The first attack occurred on 1 March 2001 when a group of men in civilian clothes surrounded Prof. Cherif's car. As she attempted to turn her car around, the men reached through the open windows and repeatedly slapped Prof. Cherif in the face, and beat her on the neck, head, and breasts while screaming obscenities at her. Several other individuals were attacked that day, including Prof. Abdel Kader Ben Khemis, a professor at the University of Sousse, and Sihem Bensedrine, a journalist. Prof. Cherif and Prof. Ben Khemis filed a complaint with the local prosecutor's office.

Prof. Cherif was attacked again ten days later as she was leaving the courthouse in Tunis. An unidentified man in civilian clothing attacked her, throwing her to the ground and took a dossier she was holding that contained the details of the complaint she filed about the 1 March 2001 attack.

I am deeply concerned about reports that one of the participants of this brutal attack has been identified as the chief of police of the Medina section of Tunis. I am also greatly concerned that the authorities have not officially responded to the complaint filed by Prof. Cherif and Prof. Ben Khemis. Because of the alleged involvement of the police and the lack of official response on the complaint filed by Prof. Cherif and Prof. Ben Khemis, this attack appears to be part of a sanctioned police activity that was specifically targeted against human rights defenders.

I am also troubled by reports of other recent attacks, including one against Lassad Jouhri, a human rights defender. Mr. Jouhri, who uses crutches to walk, was attacked on the street. On 28 February, Naziha Boudhib , a member of the Association of Young Lawyers (Association tunisienne des jeunes avocats, ATJA), was also attacked in the street and a file was taken from her possession.

Attacks against human rights defenders violate several international human rights standards, including:

Universal Declaration of Human Rights: (adopted without opposition by the United Nations General Assembly on 10 December 1948)
· Article 3: Everyone has the right to life, liberty, and security of person.
· Article 5: No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
· 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 7: No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
· Article 9(1): Everyone has the right to liberty and security of person.
· 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.

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].


I call on your good offices to ensure that there is an official and impartial judicial investigation into the attacks of these individuals.


Sincerely,

Carole Nagengast, Ph.D.
Chair
AAAS Committee on Scientific Freedom and Responsibility

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