Summary:

Amal Houli is a Tunisian citizen, originally from the Jendouba governorate. She is a civil activist sentenced in absentia to four years in prison with immediate effect after being accused of collecting endorsements for one of the candidates in the upcoming presidential elections.

Personal Information:

Name: Amal Houli

City: Jendouba

Nationality: Tunisia

Occupation: Civil Society Activist

Charges:  Offering monetary or in-kind rewards with the aim of influencing voters per Article 161 (new) of Basic Law No. 16 of 2014 dated May 26, 2014, related to elections and referendum amended by virtue of Decree No. 55 of 2022 dated September 15, 2022.

Incidents of Violation:

On the night between Friday, July 26, 2024, and Saturday, July 27, 2024, at exactly 11:00 PM, Amal Houli’s house was raided by 13 security vehicles carrying plainclothes police officers without presenting a judicial permit authorizing the raid. The house was searched and when they did not find Amal, they took the victim’s mother and her 5-year-old daughter to the police center to continue the investigation, which lasted until 4:00 AM.

According to the victim of the violation, her family members were subjected to harassment and poor treatment in order to obtain information about the collection of endorsements for presidential candidate Karim Gharbi, despite having no connection to the matter. They were asked whether Amal had received money from him and about the whereabouts of these endorsements. According to the victim, the security forces seized documents including a database and national identity cards of people who had previously worked with her on an association project she managed as an association president in 2020.

The victim of the violation added that the security forces had previously summoned her and questioned her about her relationship with presidential candidate Karim Gharbi, which she denied, stressing that her contact with him in the past was solely to seek his help her treat her mother who was suffering from cancer and that she had no business with collecting endorsements. She also emphasized that she left Jendouba governorate before the start of the endorsement collection process.

She explained that the security forces seized documents containing a database containing personal data of citizens who had previously worked with her within the framework of an association project run by her as part of her civil society activism and duty as an association president since 2020. After failing to find Amal at her residence, her name was listed on the run.

On Wednesday, July 31, 2024, the court of First Instance in Jendouba issued against her a preliminary sentence of four years in prison with immediate effect. She was accused of committing an electoral crime under Article 161 (new) of the Basic Law No.16 of 2014 dated May 26, 2014, related to elections and referendums, amended by Decree No. 55 of 2022 dated September 15, 2022. The article stipulates: “Any person found guilty for offering monetary or in-kind rewards with the intention of influencing voters or using the same means to persuade voters to abstain from voting, whether before, during or after the elections, shall be punished by imprisonment from two to five years and a fine of two thousand to five thousand dinars. The court shall rule that in this case, the candidate loses their membership in the Assembly of the Representatives of the People and is deprived of the right to run for life. It also provides that the voter benefiting from the gifts will be deprived of his right to vote for a full ten-year period starting from the date of the final verdict of conviction.”

Human Rights Violations:

The verdict against citizen Amal Houli and the legal prosecution she is facing constitute a flagrant violation of human rights, including, first, the violation of her civil and political rights, which guarantee her the right to political and civil society activities, as enshrined in the Tunisian constitution and guaranteed and protected by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Secondly, raiding the victim’s house without presenting any legal justification or judicial permission constitutes a transgression of Article 30 which guarantees for the inviolability of the home and its protection by the state. Furthermore, the detention and interrogation of the victim’s mother and daughter, especially their questioning of the five-year-old child about Amal’s whereabouts is a breach of their rights. It should also be noted that the circumstances surrounding the case have witnessed many procedural and legal violations. Besides, the victim’s lawyer confirmed the case file lacks the essential elements of the crime stipulated in Article 161(New) of the electoral law, per which Amal was prosecuted.

Sources:

Intersection Association for Rights and Freedoms documented the case with the victim of the violation, Amal Houli, on July 30, 2024, and contacted the victim’s lawyer after the announcement of the preliminary verdict on July 31, 2024.