Structure, leaders and members

Originally founded in 1952 (Marzouk Jan. 2003), the General Union of Tunisian Students (l'Union générale des étudiants tunisiens, UGET) collapsed under internal struggles in 1971 (IPS 29 Apr. 1988). The party re-emerged in 1988 following a student congress held at the University of Tunis (ibid.).

UGET has an executive board of 13 members and is present in all universities and institutes of higher education in Tunisia; it also has a division in France called UGET-France (UGET 15 Mar. 2004).

Mohsen Marzouk, the Freedom House project director at the Tunisia office in Algeria, indicated in a January 2003 report on social movements in Tunisia that "[t]hough [in 2003] UGET still exist[ed], it was tired by internal struggle to the point that even its leadership admit[ed] its extreme weakness and the decrease of its past influence on students."

Information on the leadership of UGET is conflicting among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate. Both Ezzedine Zâatour (AFP 11 Mar. 2005; Réveil Tunisien 13 July 2005) and Jamel Tlili (UGET 15 Mar. 2004; Tunisnews 19 Oct. 2004; TUNeZINE 18 Oct. 2004) are identified as secretary general or leader of UGET.

In March 2004, the union was described by Jamel Tlili as having two factions: one, led by him and treasurer Hamdi Ramzi, that he referred to as [translation] "independent," (UGET 15 Mar. 2004) which is also known as UGET-légitime [legitimate UGET, translation] (Tunisnews 19 Oct. 2004; TUNeZINE 18 Oct. 2004), and the other, led by Ezzedine Zâatour, which Tlili referred to as [translation] "pro-government" (UGET 15 Mar. 2004).

According to Tunisnews UGET-légitime (legitimate UGET) [translation] "has a good militant base" and "is present in almost all campuses" (19 Oct. 2004).

A 15 July 2004 press release signed by Ayoub Ghdamsi (identified as vice secretary general)and Ghassen Amami (identified as secretary of culture) noted divisions of opinion within UGET with regard to the handling of a student reaction to the postponing of examinations at the faculty of law at Tunis (TUNeZINE 15 July 2004). In this press release Aymen Rouak is listed as a member of the federal office of UGET at the faculty of law of Tunis and Zouhair Dhif as a member of the federation of UGET at the faculty of law of Tunis (ibid.).

The following persons and their respective role within UGET were also identified in sources consulted: members of the executive office (bureau exécutif), Ghassen Amami, Salem Moumni (TUNeZINE 15 July 2004), Tarek Saidi and Néjib Dziri (Tunisnews 19 Oct. 2004), Taha Sassi and Ali Fellah (TUNeZINE 27 Mar. 2005); and members of the administrative board Belgacem ben Abdallah, Slah Khemissi, Sabri Zghidi and Mohamed Mzem (ibid.).

Anouar Kanzar, a member of UGET from 1997 to 2003 and a founding member of UGET-France, indicated that he had participated in the resistance against the faction of Ezzedine Zâatour and had supported the consolidation of Jamel Tlili's group with the grassroots of UGET (Tunisnews 28 Mar. 2005).

Treatment of members

In October 2004, Tarek Saïdi and Néjib Dziri, (members of UGET's executive office), were arrested as a result of statements made by UGET leaders, against a fourth mandate for Tunisian president Ben Ali, and in favour of the general amnesty for political prisoners and the return of Tunisian exiles (Tunisnews 19 Oct. 2004). UGET also denounced "harassment" towards its members and the fact that their right to education is hampered by the authorities' decision to bar some of them from registering at Tunisian universities (ibid.; LDH 5 Apr. 2004).

The Association de Lutte contre la Torture en Tunisie (ALTT) denounced the arrests on 26 and 27 March 2005 of Taha Sassi and Ali Fellah (members of the executive office) and Belgacem ben Abdallah, Slah Khemissi Sabri Zghidi and Mohamed Mzem (members of the administrative board of UGET) and the attempts by authorities to force them to sign a document in which they would renounce to their right to demonstrate (TUNeZINE 27 March 2005).

Demonstrations against the visit of Ariel Sharon

Amnesty International and Agence France-Presse indicated that several arrests were made following the 28 February 2005 demonstrations in Sfax (southern Tunisia), Gafsa and Bizerte against the proposed November 2005 visit of Ariel Sharon for the World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis (AFP 11 March 2005; AI 8 March 2005); some students were later released while five others (including two women) were "detained and allegedly tortured while at the police station in Sfax" (ibid.). According to TUNeZINE, these students were Thouraya Hidouri, Najia Trabelsi, Khaled Ben Salem, Chaouki Fourat, Khaled Hidouni (3 March 2005). Without specifying names, the article states that in March 2005 two of these students were leading members of UGET (TUNeZINE 3 March 2005). As well, TUNeZINE reported the arrest and disappearance of Hassan Ben Selem and Khaled El Hidour, members of UGET in Sfax, following a demonstration in March 2005 (2 March 2005). Another demonstrator, Ines Harrath, spent a night at the Ministry of the Interior where she was allegedly tortured (TUNeZINE 2 March 2005).

In a 10 March 2005 article, TUNeZINE provided a chronology of events concerning the demonstrations against the visit of Ariel Sharon, from 28 February 2005 to 4 March 2005. Demonstrations, sit-ins and general assemblies that took place in various universities [translation] "were severely repressed" (TUNeZINE 10 March 2005). According to this list of events, approximately 60 students were arrested during the week at various demonstrations (ibid.).

Sami Ben Abdallah of PDPinfo.org (Website of the Parti démocrate progressiste) reported that [translation] "tens" of arrests were made on 4 March 2005 following demonstrations in Tunis; the demonstrations were called for by the "UGET-légitime (Jemel Tlili)" and two other groups (Tunisnews 4 Mar. 2005).

As well, a national student strike was organized on 10 March 2005 to protest against Ariel Sharon's visit and to ask for the release of detained students (AFP 11 March 2005).

Other information involving treatment of students

A student demonstration in Bizerte on 23 April 2004 was "violently dispersed" by the police, with "no reports of injuries or deaths" (Country Reports 2004 28 Feb. 2005, sec. 2b).

Freedom House indicated that the Tunisian government "closely monitored university staff and students for any Islamist activity, and used uniformed police on campuses to discourage expressions of dissent" (11 Aug. 2005, 645; Country Reports 2004 28 Feb. 2005, sec. 2a).

In June 2004, 13 students who had been arrested in February 2003 were sentenced to between four and sixteen years' jail time for "'terrorism'- related charges" (AI 25 May 2005). All of them stated in court that their confessions were obtained under torture while they were in the custody of the Ministry of the Interior (ibid.).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

Agence France-Presse (AFP). 11 March 2005. "L'agitation se poursuit en Tunisie après l'annonce de la venue de Sharon en novembre: les étudiants ont observé jeudi une grève et certains ont été traduits en justice." (TUNeZINE). http://www.tunezine.com/breve.php3?id_breve=2144 [Accessed 24 Oct. 2005]

Amnesty International (AI). 25 May 2005. "Tunisia." Amnesty International Report 2005. http://web.amnesty.org/report2005/tun-summary-eng [Accessed 19 Oct. 2005]

_____ . 8 March 2005. "Tunisia: Preparing for the World Summit on Information Society Starts with Violence and Arrests of Human Rights Defenders and Peaceful Demonstrators." (MDE 30/002/2005 [Public]). http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGMDE300022005 [Accessed 19 Oct. 2005]

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2004. 28 February 2005. "Tunisia." United States Department of State. Washington, DC. http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2004/41733.htm [Accessed 19 Oct. 2005]

Freedom House. 26 October 2005. "FH Offices and Staff." http://www.freedomhouse.org/contact/ [Accessed 26 Oct. 2005]

_____ . 11 August 2005. "Tunisia." Freedom in the World 2005. http://www.freedomhouse.org/research/freeworld/2005/Spain-Zimbabwe.pdf [Accessed 24 Oct. 2005]

Inter Press Service (IPS). 29 April 1988. Mahfoudh Dhaoui. "Tunisia: Students on Verge of Reviving Union." (NEXIS) Ligue des droits de l'homme (LDH) [Paris]. 5 April 2004. "La LDH soutient l'appel lancé par la FTCR pour un rassemblement en solidarité avec les étudiants en grève de la faim en Tunisie pour le Droit aux études. Rassemblement le 7 avril." http://www.ldh-france.org/actu_internationale.cfm?idactu=809 [Accessed 19 Oct. 2005]

Marzouk, Mohsen. January 2003. "Social Movements in Tunisia and the Democratization Process." (Santiago 2005 Community of Democracies: Non-governmental Forum Website.) http://www.santiago2005.org/archivos/Social%20movements%20in%20Tunisia-%20Mohsen%20Marzouk.doc [Accessed 25 Oct. 2005]

PDPinfo.org. 4 March 2005. "Tunisie: après les manifestations d'aujourd'hui, des dizaines d'étudiants arrêtés." (Tunisnews Website). http://www.tunisnews.net/4mars05.htm [Accessed 24 Oct. 2005]

Réveil Tunisien. 13 July 2005. "Appel pour sauver l'Institut arabe des droits de l'homme." http://www.reveiltunisien.org/article.php3?id_article=1867 [Accessed 25 Oct. 2005]TUNeZINE. 27 March 2005.
TUNeZINE. 27 March 2005.

"Interpellation de responsables syndicaux étudiants (liste maghreb-ddh)." http://www.tunezine.com/breve.php3?id_breve=2188 [Accessed 24 Oct. 2005]