‘Tunisia must repeal laws that allow for such prosecutions if it wants to show it is making a clean break from the past’ - Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui

 

The decision by a military court in Tunisia to continue the detention of the blogger Yassine Ayari is a gross violation of the right to freedom of expression, said Amnesty International, after his re-trial started yesterday. 

 

Mr Ayari was sentenced to three years in jail in November, and Amnesty has called for his immediate release and for his conviction on charges that he had “defamed the army” in a series of Facebook posts to be quashed. 

 

Ayari was arrested at Tunis airport as he stepped off a flight from France on 24 December. He was informed that a military court had tried him in absentia in November and had sentenced him to three years’ imprisonment. He was taken to Mornaguia prison. 

 

Ayari was convicted of “defaming the army” in posts on his Facebook page, dating from August and September last year. The posts criticised Defence Minister Ghazi Jeribi, as well as specific appointments made in the military command. 

 

Ayari was sentenced to the maximum prison term under provisions that prohibit attacks on the reputation of the army, as well as “criticism” that undermines the authority of military commanders. His re-trial which resumed yesterday has now been adjourned until 20 January, during which time he will remain behind bars. Ayari is the latest Tunisian to have been prosecuted by military courts for criticising the army or army officials. 

 

Amnesty International Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui said:

 

Yassine Ayari was sentenced under Article 91 of the Code of Military Justice, a provision which prohibits attacks on the “dignity, reputation and morale” of the army, acts that weaken military discipline, obedience and respect for superiors, as well as the criticism of high military command actions or the criticism of army officers that harms their dignity. 

Several Tunisian civilians have been tried by military courts recently for criticising the army or state officials. 

 

Last November Sahbi Jouini, a police union leader, was convicted in absentia and sentenced to two years in prison for defaming the army, after he accused the army of failing to use information adequately to combat terrorism. In May 2013, the blogger Hakim Ghanmi was tried before a military court for “undermining the reputation of the army” after he complained about the director of a military hospital. Meanwhile, former presidential adviser Ayoub Massoudi was also convicted of “undermining the reputation of the army” and defaming a civil servant in 2012 after he publicly criticised the extradition of former Libyan Prime Minister Al-Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi from Tunisia to Libya in June that year. 

 

Although Tunisia’s Code of Military Justice was reformed in July 2011, it did not limit the jurisdiction of military courts to offences of a purely military nature committed by military personnel. International human rights standards are clear that civilians should not be prosecuted before military courts. 

 

The right to freedom of expression also allows for the public criticism of officials and institutions. This right is enshrined in Tunisia’s new constitution, as well in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Tunisia is a state party. Laws which provide special protection against criticism for public officials and criminalise defamation are not consistent with respect for freedom of expression. Defamation offences should be treated as a matter for civil litigation.