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OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHTU #0407/01 1701718
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
O 191718Z JUN 09
FM AMEMBASSY TUNIS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6465
INFO RUCNMGH/MAGHREB COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RUEAWJA/DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE WASHDC IMMEDIATE

S E C R E T TUNIS 000407 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/MAG 
DRL: KMCGEENEY, S/WIC ARICCI 
DOD/OSD:ALIOTTA, DOJ/ODAG:MSTRANSKY 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/19/2029 
TAGS: PHUM PREL KDRG PTER TS
SUBJECT: GOT SEEKS RETURN OF TUNISIAN GUANTANAMO DETAINEES 
 
REF: A. TUNIS 399 
     ¶B. TUNIS 32 
     ¶C. 08 TUNIS 1137 
     ¶D. 08 TUNIS 1110 
     ¶E. 08 TUNIS 1052 
     ¶F. 08 SECTO 8 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Robert F. Godec, Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
¶1.  (S) Summary:  Saying he was acting at the request of 
President Ben Ali, Foreign Minister Abdallah told the 
Ambassador late June 18 that the GOT would like the United 
States to return all Tunisian Guantanamo detainees to 
Tunisia.  Sending Tunisians to third countries (Italy, 
Germany and most recently Spain) is not acceptable:  doing so 
would give the impression Tunisia will not take them and/or 
that Tunisia will mistreat them.  Abdallah repeated previous 
assurances about appropriate treatment of transferees but 
ruled out any US Government access to the prisoners after 
transfer.  He said that President Ben Ali had repeated to 
Abdallah that morning that the GOT would release the 
detainees if the United States wished.  The Ambassador said 
he would inform Washington of the GOT's request and asked, 
once again, for access to the first two detainees and all 
future transferees.  Mission recommends that Washington 
agencies consider offering to transfer the Tunisians 
detainees, but only if the GOT agrees to unrestricted access 
to them.  While access would not provide an absolute 
guarantee of appropriate treatment, it would offer some 
additional protection to the transferees.  End Summary 
 
Transfers to Third Countries Unacceptable 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (S) The Ambassador was convoked late June 18 by Foreign 
Minister Abdelwaheb Abdallah who expressed Tunisian concern 
with reports that the United States was seeking to tranfer 
Tunisian citizen Guantanamo Bay deainees to European 
countries including Italy, Gemany and possibly to Spain. 
One or more of the cuntries had notified the GOT about the 
possibiliy.  Abdallah said that transfering Tunisian 
detainees to other countries is not acceptable: doing so 
would give the impression Tunisia will not take hem and/or 
that Tunisia will mistreat them. 
 
3  (S) Tunisia wants the return of its detained citzens and 
would try them as appropriate in public trials open to both 
dometic and foreign observers Abdallah said.  He added the 
GOT would provide hem all the rights and guarantees provided 
to Tuisian prisoners, including access by their familie and 
attorneys, repeating language previously used (rfs. D-F). 
He noted that Tunisia is a signatory to all the relevant 
onventions and that for four years the International 
Committee of the Red Cross has had access to al detention 
centers in the country (Comment: see ef A in which the ICRC 
states it does not have acess to all Ministry of the 
Interior facilities.  The US Government's unwillingness to 
transfer detainees to Tunisia suggests that the GOT is not 
eliable and runs a country that does not respect te law. 
The Minister said that Tunisia is not Sibria in the days of 
the Soviet Union.  If the Unied States believes that Tunisia 
has problems such as torture or mistreatment, President Ben 
Ali prviously offered to then Secretary Rice to release he 
Guantanamo detainees.  In fact he repeated tht proposal that 
very morning to Abdallah, the Miister stated.  Abdallah 
added that there was no rason for the GOT to mistreat 
returned detainees iven that any crimes they may have 
committed occurred outside of Tunisia. 
 
USG Access Not Possible 
----------------------- 
 
¶4.  (S) Abdallah asked the Ambassador to convey his demarche 
to Washington with "insistence", adding he has asked 
Ambassador Mansour to deliver the same demarche in 
Washington.  The question that is raised when reports suggest 
that the Tunisians are to be sent to third countries is 
whether the GOT refused them.  Abdallah recalled that 
Secretary Rice had asked for Embassy access to the two 
detainees that had been previously returned.  Abdallah 
repeated previous statements (refs. B-E) that Tunisian law 
does not permit such access and that it was not possible to 
establish such a precedent.  He noted that the most reports 
of torture have emanated from Guantanamo, which in itself was 
hard to accept, and that American reasoning about the 
detainees in Tunisia was not very logical.  He said it was in 
the interest of both countries and good relations for the 
United States to reconsider its approach to third countries. 
He added that the new Administration had shown lots of 
understanding of the region, created many openings and 
adopted fresh perspectives.  Abdallah called on the United 
States to look at the Tunisian request with goodwill and 
attention.  If the United States has questions, they would 
answer.  Abdallah noted that he was raising this matter after 
President Ben Ali had asked him to speak to "our American 
friends." 
 
Access Would Help 
----------------- 
 
¶5.  (S) The Ambassador promised to transmit Abdallah's 
demarche faithfully to Washington.  The US Government was 
seized with the issues surrounding the decision to close the 
Guantanamo Bay detention center.  The Ambassador said he was 
aware of press reports of possible transfers of Tunisians, 
had no official information to convey on the issue, but would 
request it.  The Minister confirmed that other countries had 
already raised it with him.  The Ambassador replied that 
there have been allegations of mistreatment of one of the 
detainees previously transferred, notably during the initial 
detention (garde a vue) period.  The allegations were an 
important problem.  The US Government being permitted to have 
contact with the detainees after they are transferred could 
be helpful, and that many countries permitted such contact. 
 
¶6.  (S) The Minister asked "unofficially" whether the 
Ambassador truly believed that allegations of mistreatment 
would stop even if the United States had regular access to 
the prisoners.  He added that there would always be such 
allegations saying that it is part of Al-Qaida's tactics to 
assert such mistreatment as part of their propaganda.  They 
used such allegations to justify their calls for violence 
against Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and Egypt saying that they were 
fighting the violence of those governments.  Prison visits 
will not make the claims go away.  The Ambassador replied 
that the torture conventions imposed a continuing obligation 
on the United States after any transfer is made. 
 
¶7.  (S) Abdallah called the logic of a continuing 
responsibility hard to accept especially given that the 
original arrests and detentions were very doubtful and 
outside a juridical framework.  The United States should 
reconsider for the situation is unacceptable and gives the 
impression that Tunisia does not want its citizens.  Abdallah 
said he had told then Under Secretary Nicholas Burns that 
they would take any Tunisian citizen no matter how 
undesirable the individual was and noted to the Ambassador 
that the concept of banishment from a country had been 
eliminated in the 19th century and is not acceptable in the 
modern age.  He closed by saying that he had been amazed that 
Secretary Rice had called him about Guantanamo just two weeks 
before leaving office and that he hoped the issue can be 
finally closed. 
 
Public Statement Issued 
----------------------- 
 
¶8.  (U) In an article dated June 18, the official Tunis 
Afrique Press press agency released a statement by the 
Ministry of Justice and Human Rights that followed the lines 
of the Minister's comments but uses some strong language with 
respect to the United States and unnamed (European) 
countries.  The communique praises the closing of the 
Guantanamo detention center while describing it as having 
violated the detainee rights.  It alleges that the aim of 
third country transfers is designed to hide the abuses that 
the detainees suffered while in detention and the complicity 
of countries that helped facilitate transfers to Guantanamo. 
It rejects allegations that human rights are violated in 
Tunisia.  It points out that detention in Guantanamo does not 
necessarily translate to detention in Tunisia and that the 
two previous transferees had sentences levied against them in 
abstentia reduced on appeal.  The communique closes by citing 
a Tunisian who was returned to Tunisia from Canada as living 
in peace with his family despite allegations "from certain 
quarters" that he would be abused.  The full text of the 
communique can be found at www.tap.info.tn/en. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶9.  (S) The fear of public embarrassment that would result 
 
 
from the transfer of Tunisian detainees to third countries 
has the GOT very concerned.  True to form, they are showing 
once again that they dislike anything that would publicly 
tarnish their oft-repeated image of perfection. 
Notwithstanding the tough line that the GOT has adopted on 
post transfer access, their public relations concerns may 
trump that position in the end.  Mission recommends 
Washington agencies consider responding with a proposed 
transfer conditioned upon regular and guaranteed access by US 
Government personnel.  If Washington decides to proceed with 
such an approach, it would be helpful if it were accompanied 
by a paper explaining international legal obligations.  While 
it is possible the GOT may be unwilling to swallow that pill, 
their image concerns in an "election" year may sway them. 
Even if they accept that approach, we are under no illusion 
that would constitute an absolute guarantee of no 
mistreatment, especially in the first few days when the 
detainees are in MOI custody.  Nevertheless, access would, we 
believe, offer some additional protection to transferees. 
Finally, we note as we have on previous occasions that if we 
transfer detainees, regardless of the assurances we receive 
from the GOT about their treatment, some international NGO's 
may make inflated claims of abuse and accuse the US 
Government of violating its international obligations.  End 
Comment 
Godec