Amnesty International Report 2017/18

364

Amnesty International Report 2017/18

victims’ families with the Atakpamé, Amlamé 

and Lomé courts, none are known to have 

been fully investigated.

1. Amnesty International urges Togo to expressly commit to protecting 

the rights to freedom of association, freedom of expression and 

peaceful assembly (

AFR 57/5884/2017

)

2. Togo. Un mort par balle et plusieurs blessés lors d’une manifestation 

dispersée par l’armée (

Press release

, 1 March)

3. Togo. Les autorités doivent s’abstenir de tout recours injustifié ou 

excessif à la force lors des manifestations de l’opposition (

Press 

release

, 6 September); Togo. Un enfant de neuf ans tué par balle lors 

des manifestations (

Press release

, 20 September)

4. Togo. Le retrait des fréquences de deux médias est une attaque 

contre la liberté d’expression (

Press release

, 6 February)

5. Togo. Un militant politique détenu pour ses opinions doit être libéré 

(

Press release

, 12 April)

6. Togo: Detained community leader wrongly charged: Salomée T. 

Abalodo (

AFR 57/6193/2017

)

TUNISIA

Republic of Tunisia

Head of state: Béji Caïd Essebsi

Head of government: Youssef Chahed

The authorities continued to renew the state 

of emergency and used it to justify 

imposing arbitrary restrictions on freedom 

of movement. Torture and other ill-

treatment of detainees continued in an 

environment of impunity. Police carried out 

arbitrary arrests and house raids without 

judicial warrants. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, 

transgender and intersex people were 

arrested and prosecuted for consensual 

same-sex sexual relations. Prosecutions of 

peaceful protesters increased in several 

regions.

BACKGROUND

The authorities renewed the nationwide state 

of emergency five times during the year for 

periods of one to three months. A major 

cabinet reshuffle in September brought 13 

new ministers into government.

Protests against unemployment, poor living 

conditions and marginalizing development 

policies continued, particularly in 

underdeveloped regions.

In May, Parliament adopted an amendment 

to the Passport Law introducing positive 

provisions requiring that people affected by a 

travel ban be informed of the decision 

promptly, and guaranteeing that they have 

the right to challenge the decision.

1

In May, Tunisia’s human rights record was 

examined for the third time under the UN 

UPR process. Recommendations to Tunisia 

were adopted by the UN Human Rights 

Council in September.

Local municipal elections scheduled to take 

place in December were postponed to May 

2018 because of delays in making 

appointments to the National Independent 

Elections Commission. Parliament failed to 

elect its allotted quota of Constitutional Court 

members as required by law, thereby 

impeding the establishment of the Court.

COUNTER-TERROR AND SECURITY

Emergency measures in place since 

November 2015 continued to give the 

Minister of the Interior broad additional 

powers, including the ability to conduct 

house raids without judicial warrants and 

impose restrictions on freedom of movement. 

The Ministry of the Interior continued to 

restrict freedom of movement through 

arbitrary and indefinite S17 orders that 

confined hundreds to their governorate of 

residence, justifying this as a measure to 

prevent Tunisians from travelling to join 

armed groups. Human rights lawyers 

reported instances of arbitrary arrest and 

short-term detention of people subjected to 

S17 border control measures. The Minister of 

the Interior told Parliament in April that 134 

individuals had filed complaints with the 

Administrative Court challenging S17 orders. 

In April, the Minister announced that 537 

individuals were facing trial for “terrorism-

related” activities.

Family members of individuals suspected of 

joining or supporting armed groups faced 

harassment and intimidation by the police. 

The Malik family’s home in Tozeur was 

regularly raided by police because they 

suspected one member of the family of 

affiliation to armed groups abroad. In May, 

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Amnesty International Report 2017/18

365

two members of the family, journalists Salam 

and Salwa Malik, were prosecuted and 

sentenced to six months’ imprisonment, later 

reduced to a fine, after they criticized the 

conduct of police during a particularly violent 

raid on their home.

2

Police harassed individuals on account of 

their appearance, arresting and interrogating 

men with beards and men and women 

dressed in what officials deemed to be 

conservative religious clothing.

TORTURE AND OTHER ILL-TREATMENT

Human rights lawyers continued to report 

cases of torture and other ill-treatment of 

detainees, mostly during arrest and in pre-

charge detention in regular criminal cases 

and national security cases. In March and 

April, the Parliamentary Committee on 

Rights, Liberties and External Relations 

invited Amnesty International to brief them 

after the Prime Minister said that the 

government would investigate claims made 

by Amnesty International regarding abuses 

by security forces, including torture.

3

 It 

subsequently held four further sessions on 

torture: one session each with Amnesty 

International, two Tunisian NGOs, and the 

Minister of the Interior.

The work of Tunisia’s National Preventive 

Mechanism (NPM) – the National Body for 

the Prevention of Torture, which was 

established in 2013 as part of Tunisia’s 

obligations as a party to the Optional Protocol 

to the UN Convention against Torture – 

continued to be hampered by a lack of co-

operation from the Ministry of the Interior and 

inadequate financial support from the 

government. In April, police at Tunis Carthage 

International Airport denied members of the 

NPM access to monitor the handover of a 

“terrorism” suspect deported from Germany.

RIGHTS OF LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, 

TRANSGENDER AND INTERSEX PEOPLE

LGBTI people continued to be at risk of arrest 

under Article 230 of the Penal Code, which 

criminalizes consensual same-sex sexual 

relations. Police arrested at least 44 

individuals who were later charged and 

prosecuted under Article 230. In June, a 

judge in Sousse sentenced a 16-year-old boy 

in his absence to four months’ imprisonment 

under Article 230.

LGBTI people also faced violence, 

exploitation and sexual and other abuse by 

police, including when they tried to seek a 

remedy for violations of their rights. In July, 

police officers in Sousse arbitrarily arrested 

and beat two men because of their perceived 

sexual orientation. In August, police officers 

in Sidi Bousaid, near the capital, Tunis, 

assaulted a transgender resident of Tunis 

when he went to the police station to file a 

complaint for harassment on the grounds of 

his gender.

The police continued to subject men 

accused of same-sex sexual relations to 

forced anal examinations, in violation of the 

prohibition of torture. In September, Tunisia 

accepted a recommendation under the 

UN UPR process to end the use of anal 

examinations.

FREEDOMS OF EXPRESSION, 

ASSOCIATION AND ASSEMBLY

On 10 May, President Essebsi announced the 

deployment of the army to protect key 

economic installations from disruption by 

social and labour protests. In the following 

days, police forces used excessive force 

including tear gas against peaceful protesters 

in the southern city of Tataouine. A young 

protester was killed when a National Guard 

vehicle ran him over in what the Ministry of 

Health said was an accident. On 18 

 September, a group of officers beat journalist 

Hamdi Souissi with batons while he was 

covering a sit-in in Sfax. Throughout the year, 

courts increasingly prosecuted peaceful 

protesters. In Gafsa alone, courts tried 

hundreds of individuals, at least 80 of them 

in their absence, on charges of “disrupting 

the freedom of work” following social protests 

related to unemployment.

Courts continued to use arbitrary Penal 

Code provisions to prosecute people for 

conduct protected by the right to freedom of 

expression. In May, the Court of First 

Instance in Sousse sentenced two young 

---