Paris, Geneva, Copenhaguen, 12 November 2003

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of FIDH and OMCT, and the Euro Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) are extremely concerned at the aggravation of the health condition of Me Radhia Nasraoui, a Tunisian lawyer on hunger strike for 29 days.

Radhia Nasraoui had to be hospitalized this morning following faintness. Doctors concluded that she suffered from severe dehydration and grave kidney problems and prescribed perfusions which she refused so far, as well as further examination. Me Nasraoui started a hunger strike on 13 October, to protest against systematic hindrances she encounters in her work as a lawyer and constant harassment against herself, her family and her clients. Me Radhia Nasraoui has been the target of acts of harassment and aggression for many years due to her activities as legal counsel to political prisoners as a human rights defender.

In the course of a press conference which took place this morning in Paris in the presence of Hélène Flautre and Yasmine Boudjenah, European MPs who traveled to Tunisia from 7 to 10 November in the framework of a mission to which Dominique Noguères participated for the Observatory and the REMDH, speakers reiterated their solidarity for Radhia Nasraoui in her fight for the respect of human rights in Tunisia. An urgent appeal was launched for Radhia Nasraoui to stop her hunger strike in order not to put her health at risk. Our organizations strongly reiterate this call; they ask her as a minimum to accept perfusion. Members of the mission announced that they are going to multiply initiatives in particular directed to the French republic and the European Parliament

While stigmatizing the cynical character of the rare Tunisian official comments relating to this hunger strike, our organizations solemnly demand the Tunisian authorities to put an end to the harassment of Radhia Nasraoui, her family and relatives, and to allow her to exercise her profession as a lawyer in a normal manner.

Our organizations also wish to direct attention to the worrying situation of Zouhayr Yahyaoui, the internet-using dissident detained since June 2002 and more generally on the worsening of the situation of political and opinion detainees in Tunisia, several of which went on hunger strike in these past weeks.

They demand the end of harassment of human rights defenders in Tunisia, in accordance with the provisions of the UN General Assembly Declaration on Human Rights Defenders of 9 December 1998.

Contact presse:
Observatoire pour la protection des défenseurs des droits de l'Homme
FIDH: + 33 1 43 55 25 18
OMCT: + 41 22 809 49 39
REMDH : + 45 32 69 89 88