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,
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