Tunisia Continues to Ban Human Rights Group & Protests

This is the Tunisia you will not see in the glossy brochures: a repressive state using its authoritative grip to suffocate any air of freedom.

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One of the most remarkable, in a horrific sense, things about the Ben Ali dictatorship in Tunisia is its zero tolerance policy on dissent. From a strategic position, it is entirely counterproductive.

Due to the relative prosperous nature of Tunisia and the political stability of the country (in stark contrast to neighboring Algeria which witnessed a civil war in the 1990s that the cost the lives of 200,000 people) alongside the moderate appearance of the ruling class (in stark contrast with the other neighbor in Libya’s buffoonish Qadhafi), dissent in Tunisia is a mild affair. Most are not enthusiastic about the president (and his in-laws are widely detested), but people are content enough. Thus dissenters are marginal and their influence inconsequential. The regime could easily tolerate them and showcase them to Western human rights officials as token opposition. Props to be used to falsely present an image of democracy and pluralism in the nation. That would be clever: the regime will always immediately suppress any opposition with teeth, but with what they are working with in Tunisia they can allow for an opposition of sorts while making sure that their authority remains unchallenged all the while it would maintain the appearance of a liberal regime that the government is keen on promoting.

Instead, they are ruthless in suppressing dissent to their great image loss. A Tunisian human rights activist who is unheard of by most Tunisians becomes the subject of Western headlines and NGO reports all because the thuggish secret police refuses to allow him to publish an obscure website.

Of course, Tunisians have an inalienable right to freedom of speech and the right to association. I am not trying to instruct the Ben Ali goons on how to better manage the P.R. of repression, but just to say a few words of caveat that the government in its extreme repression is actually undermining its international standing when it need not have to resort to such practices in order to insure its continued dominance. That illustrates just how awful the Ben Ali and Trabelsi (the in-laws) group are in their oppression of innocent Tunisians, and so does this:

Tunisia reaffirmed Sunday its ban on the Tunisian League for Human Rights, after the group had tried to celebrate its 33rd anniversary, a government source said.

A Tunis appeal court confirmed a 2001 ruling that prevents the rights group conducting all activities and also barred the group from holding an annual congress, the source said.

On Friday, the League's director Mokhtar Trifi had challenged the ruling and asked "authorities to stop interfering in the League's affairs."

Trifi said the ruling was illegal. He added that "a large number" of activists, supporters and diplomats in Tunis for the anniversary had been prevented from entering the LTDH's headquarters, surrounded by police.

The court reiterated that the League "can only act when given a precise mission defined by the law."

The League, which was founded in 1977, has been involved in a political and judicial battle with Tunisian authorities since its last conference in 2000 when it accused the government of provoking a rebellion within its ranks.

And so does this:

Witnesses say the security forces moved to prevent a planned demonstration by internet users against the blocking of access to internet sites.

There was a strong police presence in the main avenue of the capital and adjoining streets Saturday, after a demonstration was announced in recent days via sites including Twitter and Facebook.

One of the protest organisers, opposition journalist and blogger Soufiane Chourabi, said the protesters had planned to march, wearing T-shirts with slogans such as "Lift the lockdown of the internet", to the Ministry of Communications. He said organisers had applied to the Interior Ministry for permission to hold the demonstration, but received no reply.

Internet users report that previously sporadic blocking of internet sites to users within Tunisia greatly intensified in April.

The Ben Ali thugs neither know shame nor God.