Youssef Chedly Attia

Summary

Researcher in the philosophy of law "Youssef Chedly Attia" was arrested at Tunis-Carthage International Airport on his way back to Tunisia. He was taken to Messadine civil prison in Sousse to serve judicial sentences issued in absentia sentencing him to four years in prison with immediate enforcement, after his name had been implicated in cases with which he had no connection and without his being informed of the course of the case against him or the judgments issued in it.

Personal Information

Full name: Youssef Chedly Attia

Status: Researcher in philosophy of law

Charges

Forming a criminal association with the aim of attacking property and persons using children under 18, rebellion committed by more than ten persons without weapons, deliberately damaging the property of others, and violating the curfew.

Incidents of Violation

At dawn on Monday 13 November 2023, researcher in the philosophy of law Youssef Chedly Attia was arrested at Tunis-Carthage International Airport and taken directly to Messadine civil prison in Sousse to serve two in-absentia sentences of four years in prison with immediate enforcement. This was on the basis of accusations of forming a criminal association with the aim of attacking property and persons using children under 18, rebellion committed by more than ten persons without weapons, deliberately damaging the property of others, violating the curfew and other similar charges, without his ever having been notified or officially summoned to be questioned as a suspect or accused. This was confirmed to us by the lawyer of the victim of the violation, Maître Nadia Ouerghi. In her testimony to Intersection Association, she stated that the charges against Youssef date back to the night of 17 to 18 January 2021, through a complaint originally filed by an official of the Free Destourian Party following the storming of the party's office in the district of Hammam Sousse by a group of citizens. She asserted that Mr Youssef Chedly Attia was not among them, as confirmed by the records of the hearings of the suspects, in which the victim of the violation is not mentioned at all. Rather, his name became linked to the case because he protested, during security pursuits, against the storming of a neighbour's home without legal grounds and the beating of the neighbour and his son by the internal security forces. Following this, the victim of the violation was arrested together with his two neighbours; they were taken away and beaten inside an internal security vehicle, resulting in physical injuries requiring days of rest according to the medical certificate issued by Farhat Hached Hospital on 19 January 2021, after the detainees were medically examined following their release from the Hammam Sousse security station on the night of 17 to 18 January 2023. The detainees then filed a complaint with the Court of First Instance of Sousse on 26 January 2021, the examination of which had not begun at the time of writing this documentation. Mr Youssef Chedly has thus remained in prison since Monday 13 November 2023, pending the admission, on procedural grounds, of the objection to the first-instance judgment on 16 November 2023, or of the objection to the appeal judgment on 8 December 2023.

Human Rights Violations

The in-absentia judgment issued against Youssef Chedly Attia, without his being summoned for questioning or to attend the judicial proceedings at either the first-instance or the appeal stage, is a flagrant violation of the right to a fair trial, which is enshrined in international treaties and instruments such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, under Article 14, which explicitly provides that "In the determination of any criminal charge against him, everyone shall be entitled to the following minimum guarantees, in full equality: (a) To be informed promptly and in detail in a language which he understands of the nature and cause of the charge against him". The right to a fair trial is also enshrined in national law, such as the 2022 Constitution, which provides in its Article 33 that "The accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a fair trial in which he is guaranteed all the rights of defence during the stages of prosecution and trial." Moreover, the beating in the security forces' vehicle of the victim of the violation and his two neighbours, whose home had been stormed by the security forces without legal grounds, constitutes a violation of the right to physical integrity and private life, which the State and its official bodies are obliged to uphold under Articles 25 and 30 of the 2022 Constitution.

Sources

The violations inflicted on civil society activist "Youssef Chedly Attia" were documented through a telephone call with the lawyer of the victim of the violation, Maître "Nadia Ouerghi", on 13 November 2023.