Dispatches: Tunisia Blogger Jailing Shows Flaws In Legal System | Human Rights Watch

4.3.15

Dispatches: Tunisia Blogger Jailing Shows Flaws In Legal System | Human Rights Watch: Much has changed in Tunisia since the popular protests that forced President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali to flee the country in early 2011. Tunisia adopted a new constitution in January 2014 that was hailed as an important step towards consolidating human rights protections and re-establishing the rule of law. Yet, some repressive legal provisions left over from the Ben Ali dictatorship remain on the books and are now being used regularly by the authorities to trample human rights.

Ayari’s is a case in point. His prosecution was brought under article 91 of the military code, one of the relics of the dictatorship. This provision and other articles in the penal code have been used regularly to charge bloggers, journalists, and artists with vague accusations of “defamation against state institutions,” “insulting public officials,” and “harming public order and public morals.”