Appeal court upholds unjustified sentences against Zarzis Internet-users

Reporters Without Borders protested after heavy sentences were upheld on appeal against six Internet-users in the southern city of Zarzis, accused of using the Internet to plot terror attacks. Their 19-years-and-three-months sentences were however replaced with 13 years imprisonment. The convictions were based entirely on confessions extracted under duress and based on no real evidence, the international press freedom organisation said. Reporters Without Borders said it expected a higher court of appeal (cassation) to overturn this iniquitous sentence. "The charges against the young men from Zarsis were far too flimsy to warrant such a heavy sentence," it said. Their use of the Internet had been used as a pretext for these unfounded convictions. The organisation called on the French, Swedish and German governments to react firmly to the sentences which affected citizens or residents of those countries. Hamza Mahruk, aged 21, Amor Faruk Chlendi, 21, Amor Rached, 21, Abdel-Ghaffar Guiza, 21, Aymen Mecharek, 22, a dual German-Tunisian national and Ridha Hadj Brahim, 38, had their sentences reduced from 19 years and three months to 13 years in prison. Sentences of 26 years pronounced in absentia against Ayub Sfaxi, 21, a French resident, and Tahar Guemir, 20, who has dual Swedish-Tunisian nationality and lives in Sweden were maintained. These eight people were first sentenced on 6 April 2004. The last member of the Zarzis group, Abderrazak Bourguiba, aged 18, sentenced to 25 months in prison on 16 April 2004 by a youth court, will have his appeal held separately. The Zarzis group was dubbed "the prophet's brigades" at their trial. Ayub Sfaxi said however that he had never heard that name, which he said he believed to be a fabrication by the authorities. He said also that none of his friends had stolen chemicals from their school in Zarzis, as the charge sheet indicated. The files produced against them were designed to bolster the thesis of a terrorist plot fomented by Islamists close to al-Queda. The Tunisian government thus hoped to avoid any strong reactions from the international community. No evidence was offered at the trial either of the young men's membership of an Islamist network nor of any intention to organise terrorist attacks. German national Mecharek was for example accused of attempting to bring back a bazooka to Tunisia, but without any proof of this fantasist allegation, said Reporters Without Borders. The convictions rested entirely on signed confessions from the young Internet-users. Their lawyers however said these were invalid because they had been extracted under torture. They announced plans for a further appeal. The initial convictions of the Zarzis group brought no official reaction from the French, German or Swedish governments. Figures put out by Tunisia national tourist office (ONTT), quoted by the online magazine Management & Nouvelles Technologies, tourism increased by 19% from January to June 2004 compared to the same period the previous year, particularly in the Zarsis region where it leapt by 28%. Nearly one million European tourists visited Tunisia this year, 160,000 of them Germans.