Human rights activist held since giving interview to Al-Jazeera two weeks ago

Reporters Without Borders condemns the continuing detention of Tarek Soussi, a member of the International Association for the Support of Political Prisoners (AISPP), who was arrested two weeks ago after giving an interview to pan-Arab satellite TV station Al-Jazeera. He is now facing a possible three-year jail sentence for “spreading false news liable to disturb public order.” “The Tunisian authorities continue to impose the law of silence,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Those who dare to break the rule go straight to prison. The government's strict control of news and information is being challenged by the satellite TV stations, to which Tunisians turn for independent news, as in Soussi's case. The press freedom organisation added: “Soussi would never have been allowed to say what he said if he had gone to a state TV station. The charge brought against him is absurd and is above all designed to deter all those who might otherwise dare to follow his example and speak to the foreign news media.” Soussi's lawyers said he was treated in a “humiliating” manner when he was brought before an investigating judge in Bizerte (60 km north of Tunis) on 3 September. Aged 48, he walks with crutches as a result of being badly mistreated during a spell in prison in the early 1990s but he was not allowed to use them for the hearing and policemen carried him into the courtroom. His wife told Reporters Without Borders she is very worried about his state of health. His lawyers submitted a request for his provisional release, but the request has not yet been considered and no date has yet been set for the next hearing. No warrant was shown when Soussi was arrested at his home in Bizerte on 27 August by around 10 plain-clothes policemen, who forced their way in after one of them posed as an electricity company employee. His arrest came one day after he gave a phone interview for Al Jazeera's news programme about the Maghreb countries (see Arabic-language video) in which he criticised the arrest of seven people. ©Al-Jazeera - Extract from its Maghreb news programme - 26 August 2008