Tunisia: releases welcome but reform needed

The organization is calling on the Tunisian authorities to repeal or amend all laws that permit prison sentences for the peaceful exercise of the right to freedom of expression and association. [...] Any former prisoner who breaches the conditions of his release can be re-arrested and made to serve the remainder of his sentence by decision of the Minister of Justice, without any judicial process, or placed under house arrest for the same period. [...] Although the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention adopted the opinion in November that his detention was arbitrary, he continued to be detained in El-Kef prison where he was harassed on several occasions by the prison administration and visits by his wife were often interrupted or restricted. [...] Most of the 21 other political prisoners who were released had been imprisoned for over 14 years because of their membership of the banned Islamist organization, Ennahda (Renaissance), after unfair trials before the Bouchoucha and Bab Saadoun military courts in 1992. [...] In addition, the Tunisian authorities continue to hold about a thousand prisoners under the 2003 counter-terrorism law allegedly for seeking to go to fight in Iraq or for membership to a terrorist or unauthorized organization or association.