Nadia Jelassi, after being questioned by a judge on 28 August, said: “I felt like I was in the times of the [Spanish] Inquisition. The investigative judge asked me about my intentions behind my works that were on exhibit and whether I had intended to provoke with this work”. The works of both artists were exhibited in the town of La Marsa last June. The night the exhibition ended, protesters set fire to police stations, courts and other buildings. One person was killed and dozens injured. Jelassi and Ben Slama face up to five years in prison if convicted.

Recently Human Rights Watch called on the Tunisian authorities to drop the charges against the two sculptors for their art works, adding that the “criminal prosecutions of artists for works of art that do not incite violence or discrimination violate the right to freedom of expression”. The group said that “repressive laws” created under Tunisia’s fallen dictator are still being used to “silence those who dissent or think differently”.

This case is not the only one that has raised concerns over freedom of expression in Tunisia.

Worrying Trends

Courts are now being used across Tunisia by the government to pressure other dissidents – unionists, journalists, artists and comedians – who fear the political trials are part of a wider government campaign of repression. In June, a member of the Tunisian General Labour Union was accused of inciting the public to murder. He was arrested. Adnene Hajji was later found not guilty. In July, the government jailed unionists occupying a hospital in protest of the unilateral appointment of a new director.

Later that month, the Ennahdha ruling party’s supporters and religious fundamentalists kept Lofti Abdelli from preforming his controversial comedy show 100% Hilal in Tunis. Two journalists were arrested in Kelibia for “harming public morals” in August over a critical story about Ennahdha. Sami Fehri, who owns the Ettounissia TV station, had his popular satirical puppet show taken off the air in August. After accusing Fehri of corruption, the government issued an arrest warrant and he turned himself in on 30 August. The United Nations and Reporters Without Borders have criticised the government’s charges. 

According to Amnesty International, free speech has been “repeatedly” stifled in Tunisia since June 2011. The human rights advocacy group singled out the Tunisian Penal Code’s Article 21, written by Ennahdha, “which criminalises the distribution of printed material that disrupts public order or public morals”.

Ennahdha member Zoubeir Choudi said political mistakes are unavoidable in the chaotic early stages of democracy. “The situation in Tunisia is still in transition. We are trying to build the second republic”, said Choudi, who oversees the office of Ennahdha’s leader Rachid Ghannochi. “There is a strong will to keep a consensus and protect freedoms. Ennahdha is committed to … its promises. But no one is perfect and decisions are only an estimation of what is right to do. Sometimes this estimation is wrong”, Choudi said. 

Others are not so sure. Sadok Ben Mhenni, a rights activist who was incarcerated for four years under Ben Ali, said the political persecution of former cabinet minister Messaoudi is part of a larger trend. “Ayoub is just a link in a whole chain of actions that the authorities are undertaking, actions which target the freedom of expression”, said Mhenni.

Attempts to define roles for each gender 
Men and women in Tunisia demonstrated against the language in the new draft defining gender roles, fearing what they believe to be an increasing threat from Tunisia’s rulers, the self-proclaimed Islamist party Ennahdha. “This position threatens and undermines the achievements of women and could create a patriarchal system that gives all power to the men and denies women their rights”, reads a joint press release by human rights groups and the Tunisian General Labour Union, the country’s largest, following the release of the draft. “This position will deny women their full citizenship and independence as human beings, as equals of men whose duty is to enjoy their human rights just like men”.

Ennahdha’s proposal would define women’s roles with respect to men, cutting their place in society from independence to dependence. The opponents of the draft fear that a woman would be legally considered a wife, daughter or mother – but not a citizen.

But according to Farida Abidi, a National Assembly member and an Ennahdhaoui, this interpretation of the draft constitution is alarmist and wrong. She described the controversy as overly focused on the term mukammil, or complement, defining the household roles of men and women. “The use of the term of complementarity should be construed in a positive way”, Abidi said in an interview with the state-run Tunisian Press Agency, adding that a specific provision in the constitution fully grants women equality. Article 22 states, “All citizens have equal rights and duties before the law notwithstanding any kind of discrimination whatsoever”.

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