الملخص:
منير الشاذلي مهندس معماري وناشط حقوقي تمت مداهمة منزله بالكاف بغرض إيقافه وذلك على خلفية تدوينات تنتقد السلطة الحاكمة كان قد نشرها على صفحته الشخصية في مواقع التواصل الاجتماعي، وأمام الهرسلة الأمنية التي تعرض لها منير قرر تقديم نفسه، ليتم سجنه والحكم عليه فيما بعد بثلاثة أشهر سجن.
التهمة: إنتاج، أو ترويج، أو نشر، أو إرسال، أو إعداد أخبار، أو بيانات، أو إشاعات على معنى الفصل 24 من المرسوم عدد 54
في أواخر شهر جانفي من السنة الحالية، قامت قوات الأمن بمداهمة منزل المهندس المعماري والناشط الحقوقي منير بالشاذلي وذلك بغرض إيقافه على خلفية قضية مرفوعة ضده تتعلق بنشره لتدوينات على صفحته الشخصية بموقع فايسبوك انتقد من خلالها السلطة الحالية، حيث لم يتم العثور عليه، ليقوم ضحية الانتهاك بتسليم نفسه للسلطات الأمنية في 29 جانفي 2024، وبمراجعة النيابة العمومية تقرر الإبقاء على منير بالشاذلي في حالة إيقاف، مع عرضه على القضاء يوم 6 فيفري 2024 وذلك كونه متهما باستعمال شبكات وأنظمة معلومات واتّصال لإنتاج أو ترويج أو نشر أو إرسال أو إعداد أخبار أو بيانات أو إشاعات كاذبة أو وثائق مصطنعة أو مزورة أو منسوبة كذبا للغير بهدف الاعتداء على حقوق الغير أو الإضرار بالأمن العام أو الدفاع الوطني أو بث الرعب بين السكان. طبقا لما نص عليه الفصل 24 من المرسوم عدد 54. ويوم 07 فيفري 2024 أصدرت المحكمة الابتدائية بالكاف حكما ابتدائيا يقضي بسجن منير بالشاذلي لمدة 3 أشهر سجنًا مع النفاذ العاجل.
Summary:
Mounir Bechedhli is an architect and a human rights activist whose house was raided in El Kef with the aim of arresting him on the grounds of posts criticizing the ruling authority that he had published on his personal social media page. Due to the security chaos that Mounir was subjected to, he decided to hand himself over, to be later imprisoned and sentenced to three months.
Personal Information:
Name: Mounir Bechedhli
Occupation: Architect and Human Rights Activist
Charges: Production, dissemination, transmission, and preparation of news, data, or rumors under Article 24 of Decree No.54
Incidents of Violation:
In late January of the current year, security forces raided the residence of the architect and human rights activist Mounir Bechedhli with the aim of arresting him on the basis of a case filed against him in relation to his publications on his personal Facebook page in which he criticized the current authority. He was not found during the raid, but the victim handed himself over to the security authorities on January 29, 2024. Upon review by the public prosecution, it was decided to keep Mounir Bechedhli in custody, with his case presented before the judiciary on February 6, 2024, as he is accused of using the information and communication networks and systems to produce, disseminate, transmit, prepare, news, data or rumors, fabricated or forged documents or deliberately attributed documents with the aim of infringing the rights of others, damaging public security, national defense or spreading terror among the population, in accordance to Article 24 of Decree No.54. On February 7, 2024, the Court of First Instance in Kef issued a preliminary judgment sentencing Mounir Bechedli to three months in prison.
Human Rights Violations:
What the Tunisian state is doing, such as tracking individuals and prosecuting them for their opinions, constitutes a flagrant violation of human rights and a breach of international conventions protecting this right. In fact, the victim’s activities within the digital space fall under exercising his right to express his opinion freely. Thus, it is unreasonable to prosecute and present him to the judiciary, accusing him of spreading false news. Such malicious charges correspond to oppressive practices which aim at violating freedom of opinion and expression. In addition, the referral text enshrined in Article 24 of Decree No.54 serves no purpose other than further tightening freedom of expression to the extent of their elimination in terms of unjust penalties embedded in the decree mentioned above. Monitoring and pursuing individuals based on their opinions violate Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which stipulates, “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes the freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”
It is worth noting that the array of violations within Decree No.54 through imposing punitive measures, such as imprisonment and hefty fines for a wide range of crimes, vaguely and loosely defined by the dree, without taking into consideration the repercussions they may result. It is worth mentioning that freedom of expression is a fundamental right entrenched in the Tunisian constitution under Article 37, which states, “Freedom of opinion, thought, expression, information, and publishing are guaranteed. There shall be no prior censorship of these freedoms.”
The adoption of this text by the current authorities has led to a pattern of violations aimed at curbing freedom of expression, especially in the political and human rights spheres, which negatively impacts the human rights situation in Tunisia and contributes to its deterioration day by day.
Sources:
This case was documented after contacting the victim’s lawyer, attorney Housaina Darraji, and reviewing a post published by the Inhiaaz Website and the number of articles published on the Internet.