VZCZCXYZ0000
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHTU #0387/01 0531548
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 221548Z FEB 06
FM AMEMBASSY TUNIS
TO SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9861

C O N F I D E N T I A L TUNIS 000387 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NEA/MAG FOR LAWRENCE, NEA/PI 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/21/2016 
TAGS: PHUM PGOV KMPI KPAO KDEM TS
SUBJECT: ANOTHER 18 OCTOBER MEETING BLOCKED 
 
REF: TUNIS 224 
 
Classified By: Ambassador William Hudson for Reasons 1.4 b & d 
 
¶1. (C) Summary:  GOT security forces prevented a majority of 
members of the 18 October Committee (18OC) from attending a 
press conference held by the group on February 21.  Although 
there were reports that excessive violence was used, Poloff 
witnessed the opposite: deliberate restraint by police 
officers who physically blocked entrance to the location. 
18OC member and Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) leader 
Nejib Chebbi claimed that restrictions on freedom of assembly 
and association in Tunisia were increasingly more severe, for 
all independent civil society, but especially the 18OC. 
Chebbi also said that PDP's party newspaper Al Mawkif would 
not apply for a recently announced MEPI initiative to provide 
funding for independent media in order not to give the GOT 
yet another reason to further crack down on the party and 
paper's activities.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (C)  Poloff attended a press conference of the 18 October 
Committee at the headquarters of opposition party PDP in 
downtown Tunis on February 21.  The 18OC is an alliance of 
disparate opposition political groups and activists which 
grew out of the Movement of 18 October hunger strike 
(reftel).  The purpose of the press conference was to discuss 
GOT-imposed restrictions on meetings of the 18OC and other 
NGOs.  As if to illustrate this complaint, almost all members 
of the 18OC were prevented from entering the location by a 
very large number of civilian-clothed police standing at 
intersections of all contiguous streets.  Poloff saw over 60 
police on duty, despite the small turnout for the press 
conference.  From the PDP office where press conference 
attendees sat waiting for the 18OC members to show up, Poloff 
could see the police physically preventing these members from 
entering.  Poloff saw 18OC members Lotfi Hajji, Hamma 
Hammami, Ayachi Hammami, Abderraouf Ayadi, and Samir Dilou 
prevented from approaching the PDP office.  Poloff did not 
see any excessive force used, only human barricades of police 
standing in the way.  At one point Ayadi attempted to break 
through a gathering of police, but the security official he 
grabbed was seemingly careful not to use excessive force in 
restricting his forward progress.  At one point a security 
official raised his hands, apparently to demonstrate he was 
not acting violently, only blocking entrance to the building. 
 The 18OC members were arguing with the police throughout 
this process, saying for example: "I am Tunisian, are you 
telling me I can't move freely in my own country," and "I am 
treated like a Palestinian in Israel." 
 
¶3.  (C) While the police prevented the entry of the majority 
of 180C members into the PDP building, opposition party 
Democratic Forum for Labor and Freedoms (FDTL) Secretary 
General and Committee of 18 October spokesperson Dr. Mustapha 
Ben Jaafar and Nejib Chebbi were allowed to enter, and 
eventually the press conference commenced with a small 
representation of the group.  Approximately 6 journalists 
attended, including AFP and BBC stringers, along with some 
PDP members, activists, and a former spokesman of the banned 
Tunisian Islamic party an-Nahdha, Ali Laaridh,  who has 
recently been released after a 15 year prison sentence.  (One 
of the journalists in attendance predicted that the policemen 
were going to be in trouble for allowing Laaridh into the PDP 
office, saying it was obvious they didn't recognize who he 
was).  Participants at the press conference could not explain 
the seemingly random selection of which 18OC members were 
permitted to enter the facility. 
 
¶4. (C) During the press conference, Chebbi, Ben Jaafar, and 
PDP opposition newspaper editor Rachid Hachana took turns 
discussing the GOT-generated problems encountered in 
arranging meetings for the 18OC group and its supporters, 
including meetings in Tunis, Sousse and Sfax that had been 
blocked by police.  They also bemoaned the complete lack of 
political freedoms for true opposition parties and 
independent NGOs; touching on media and financial 
restrictions, but ultimately focusing on the lack of freedom 
of assembly and association.  When mentioning media 
restrictions, Chebbi mentioned that although the USG had 
recently announced a MEPI program that finances independent 
media, they (presumably PDP and Al Mawkif) would not apply so 
as not to give the GOT yet another reason to crack down on 
their activities.  Chebbi also said that Al Mawkif's 
distributor was under GOT pressure to cut in half the number 
of copies of Al Mawkif distributed each week. 
 
¶5. (C) Chebbi said that the role of opposition parties in a 
democracy -- to provide critical input into a deliberative 
process that would benefit all citizens -- was completely 
invalidated by the GOT's suffocating security apparatus.  A 
PDP member who had arrived late said that he had witnessed 
police "beating up" a couple of the 18OC members who had been 
trying to enter.  Poloff could not confirm this report.  At 
the conclusion of the press conference, Ben Jaafar announced 
a demonstration in support of freedom of association to be 
held February 24 at the headquarters of his FTDL party.  On 
February 22, the 18OC disseminated a communique calling all 
Tunisians to attend a peaceful demonstration to support the 
freedoms of association, assembly and expression, and calling 
for an end to "judicial harassment against the Tunisian Human 
Rights League, the Association of Tunisian Judges, and our 
youth of Zarzis Ariana, Bizerte, etc." (NB The latter 
category refers to multiple cases of young Tunisians arrested 
on anti-terrorism charges whom human rights activists allege 
were not given fair trials and who were allegedly tortured.) 
 
¶6. (C)  Comment:  The 18OC members who were able to attend 
the press conference were clearly frustrated and angry, but 
seemed at least vindicated in their complaints, since the 
journalists and HRoff only had to stand up and look out the 
window to see the strong-armed GOT tactics which they were 
describing in the press conference.  All the speakers 
emphasized that the restrictions on freedom of 
assembly/association in Tunisia were increasingly more 
severe, but especially the 18OC.  Certainly the presence of 
an-Nahdha/Islamist sympathizers in the 18OC (reftel) draws 
particular GOT ire.  It is likely that the GOT allowed Chebbi 
and Ben Jaafar to attend the press conference due to their 
status as heads of authorized political parties.  Other 18OC 
members who were prevented from entering were either members 
of unauthorized parties and associations or were not 
associated with any specific organization or party apart from 
the 18OC. 
HUDSON