Tunisia: Halt Prosecution of Prominent Activist
‘Tunis) – Tunisian authorities should drop the prosecution of a prominent activist on behalf of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights (LGBT) over a post on Facebook perceived as offensive to Islam.
The counterterrorism prosecutor of the First Instance Court in Tunis opened an investigation on November 6, 2019, into Mounir Baatour, a lawyer and president of Shams, a group that defends sexual minorities, on charges of incitement to hatred, discrimination, and violence. On November 4, Baatour had reposted on his own page content from a Facebook page called “The Untold in Islam,” accusing the Prophet Mohamed of being a rapist and a killer, and crudely deriding his sexual life.
“Baatour may have offended some Tunisians with his posts, but that is no reason to prosecute him,” said Amna Guellali, Tunisia director at Human Rights Watch. “Laws should be used to punish real incitement to imminent violence, not opinions, even if they are crudely expressed or hurtful to certain groups.”’
Read more here: Tunisia: Halt Prosecution of Prominent Activist
‘Tunis) – Tunisian authorities should drop the prosecution of a prominent activist on behalf of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights (LGBT) over a post on Facebook perceived as offensive to Islam.
The counterterrorism prosecutor of the First Instance Court in Tunis opened an investigation on November 6, 2019, into Mounir Baatour, a lawyer and president of Shams, a group that defends sexual minorities, on charges of incitement to hatred, discrimination, and violence. On November 4, Baatour had reposted on his own page content from a Facebook page called “The Untold in Islam,” accusing the Prophet Mohamed of being a rapist and a killer, and crudely deriding his sexual life.
“Baatour may have offended some Tunisians with his posts, but that is no reason to prosecute him,” said Amna Guellali, Tunisia director at Human Rights Watch. “Laws should be used to punish real incitement to imminent violence, not opinions, even if they are crudely expressed or hurtful to certain groups.”’
Read more here: Tunisia: Halt Prosecution of Prominent Activist