Programs: Science and Policy
http://shr.aaas.org//news/080802_reception.htm
AAAS Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and Law Program
2002 Science and Human Rights Program Reception
 Photo provided courtesy of Reuters. |
It is foolish to want to change the world, but criminal
not to try. - Moncef Marzouki |
New: Listen to Dr. Marzouki's comments at the reception.
Each year the Science and Human Rights Program hosts a reception at the AAAS Annual Meeting to recognize a scientist, who, through action and example, has promoted human rights, usually at great personal risk. In 2002, we were honored to recognize the unwavering courage and commitment of Dr. Moncef Marzouki, a physician, professor of public health, and one of Tunisia's leading human rights defenders.
From 1989-94 Dr. Marzouki served as president of the Tunisian League for Human Rights and more recently, as spokesperson for the National Council on Liberties in Tunisia. He has endured years of systematic intimidation and harassment for his outspoken criticism of the Tunisian government's human rights record. Dr. Marzouki has been followed by the police, his home phone and fax have been repeatedly cut, and his mail has arrived opened or not at all. In 1994, after declaring himself the opposition candidate to Tunisian president Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, Dr. Marzouki was imprisoned for four months. In 1994, the Tunisian government shut down the Center for Community Medicine, a clinic he founded, which provided medical care to residents in the slums of Sousse, a city 100 kilometers south of Tunis.
His most recent round of troubles began in 2000. In July of that year, Dr. Marzouki received a letter from the Ministry of Health, dismissing him permanently from his position as professor of public health at the University of Sousse, because of statements he made during a visit to the United States. Fearing threats against them as well, Dr. Marzouki's wife and children left Tunisia and moved to France. In October 2000, he was charged with the crime of "spreading false information intended to disturb the public order," in response to a paper criticizing Tunisia's human rights practices, which was circulated privately at a meeting of human rights defenders in Morocco earlier that year. In December he was convicted and sentenced to one year in prison, after a trial, which, according to Amnesty International, did not meet international standards for fairness.
In September 2001, responding to an international campaign on Dr. Marzouki's behalf, the Tunisian government formally suspended the sentence. Unable to earn a living and subject to increased repression at home, Moncef Marzouki finally made the difficult decision to leave Tunisia, and accepted a position in the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Paris at Bobigny. He arrived in Paris in December 2001.
Dr. Marzouki attended the reception in person, where he spoke about the human rights climate in Tunisia today. An audio recording of his remarks will soon be available from the Science and Human Rights Program website.
