Appeal for Solidarity
Appeal : Thirty seconds were all it took for the Tunis High Court to deliver a sentence of 11 years and 3 months…
On Saturday, 2 February 2002, in conditions of extreme police violence and inside the Tunis High Court, 30 seconds were all it took to sentence Hamma Hammami and Samir Tà¢amallah to 9 years and 3 months in prison. Abdeljabbar Madouri, who was not present, received the same sentence and with 2 additional years tacked on, and for articles of indictment that have not been made public.
Ammar Amroussia, who was sentenced in absentia in 1997 to 2 years and 9 months in prison – and who also reemerged on 2 February after 5 years in hiding – was physically attacked by the police upon his exit from the courthouse and then arrested.
The International Committee to Support Hamma Hammami, Samir Tà¢amallah, Abdeljabbar Madouri and Ammar Amroussia
…— Calls for their immediate and unconditional release from prison, given that they have been detained solely on account of their political opinions and without having received a fair trial;
…— Demands that their dignity be respected and their physical integrity guaranteed, and, in particular, that they have the right to be visited by their lawyers and families, to be examined by doctors of their choice and to receive necessary medical care, and especially for Abdeljabbar Madouri, who is suffering from violent headaches due to blows he received from the police;
…— Denounces the continual undermining of the rule of law by the Tunisian regime, which systematically violates the fundamental rights of defendants to receive a fair trial;
…— Demands the respect of international conventions and treaties in the area of human rights that Tunisia has ratified;
…— Supports appeals for the proclamation of a general amnesty in Tunisia
