Country Listing: Tunisia

Name: Moncef Ben Salem
Profession: Mathematics
Subject: Mathematics Professor Harassed
Alert Dates: 9 September 1997, 28 March 1994

Case Number: TU9407.SAL

Updated: 15 September 1998

Human Rights Issues

• freedom of opinion and expression
• freedom of association
• right to travel

Dr. Moncef Ben Salem, a founder of the mathematics department at the University of Sfax, and a former visiting professor at the University of Maryland and the University of Michigan, continues to be harassed for his political beliefs. Dr. Ben Salem was arrested in April 1990 for an interview he gave to an Algerian newspaper in which he was critical of the government for its poor human rights record and its hostility towards Islam. He was charged with "disseminating false information" and sentenced to three years in prison.

Although he was released from prison in 1993, Dr. Ben Salem has been living under virtual house arrest, he is under constant police surveillance, and he has been denied a passport. He continues to be banned from his teaching post at the University, and has not even been allowed on the campus to retrieve his belongings.

(Sources of information on this case include the Committee on Human Rights of Mathematicians of the American Mathematical Society and the Academic Freedom Committee of Human Rights Watch.)

As a State Party, Tunisia is bound to uphold the rights and freedoms listed in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ratified by Tunisia on 18 March 1969) and the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (ratified by Tunisia on 22 April 1983).

Relevant International Treaty Articles

The continued harassment of Dr. Ben Salem constitutes a serious violation of international human rights standards, including those listed in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights. These rights include:

Under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights:

• freedom of expression (Article 19);
• freedom of association (Article 22); and
• everyone lawfully within the territory of a State shall, within that territory, have the liberty of movement and freedom to choose his residence (Article 12).

Under the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights:

• Freedom of expression (Article 9);
• freedom of association (Article 11); and
• Every individual shall have the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of a state provided be abides by the law (Article 12).

Science and Human Rights Program

Science and Human Rights Program Publications