Rafik Belhaj Kacem

Ministry of the Interior and Local Development

Ministère de l’Intérieur et du Développement Local

Avenue Habib Bourguiba

1000 Tunis

Tunisia

Your Excellency

Ali Ben Salem hosts in his home the regional office of the Tunisian League for Human Rights, one of the oldest organizations in Tunisia. Since September 2005, State Security officers have been permanently posted outside his house, allowing entry only for close family members, after checking their identity. His telephone line and internet access were cut in 2005 and he fears his mobile telephone is tapped. Security officers follow his every move and have physically prevented him entering buildings where meetings are held.

Ten years ago, Ali Ben Salem was arrested by plain-clothes State Security officers. He was taken to a police station in Tunis where he was beaten, kicked and jumped on, before being left for dead at a construction site. In response to a complaint he lodged in 2005, the UN Committee against Torture found that these acts constituted torture and urged the Tunisian authorities to remedy the situation.

Ali Ben Salem suffers from serious back and heart problems. The authorities have refused to issue him the free health care card he is entitled to as a war veteran, or pay his civil servant’s pension. He has been denied a passport and faces charges of “spreading false news likely to threaten public order” for a 2006 statement denouncing torture in Tunisian prisons.

I call for the charges against Ali Ben Salem to be dropped and for his harassment and intimidation to end immediately.

I urge that he is given the passport, medical card and pension he is entitled to.

Sincerely,

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