It is of note that the Times stories – "Terrorism Advisor to Met is on Wanted List"; "Unanswered questions about a ‘man of peace’ on Interpol list" and "Nothing Criminal about trying to establish an Islamic state" were published on a day - 15th December 2008, when Tunisia's perennial President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali had been subpoenaed to testify in a case of torture in the French court at Strasbourg at the end of which Khaled Ben Said, Tunisia's former Strasbourg vice consul, was sentenced to eight years imprisonment for torturing the wife of an opposition member in the 1990s when he was a police chief in Tunisia.

This episode is just one of many human rights abuses chronicled almost weekly by the International Human rights organisations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights watch.

Tunisia was the subject of a military coup d’etat in 1987 – which then saw its constitution change in order to allow the presiding Army General the ability to stay in power for life. In the last fifty years Tunisia has seen only two elections with 99% of the electorate apparently registering their support for the incumbent government. This result is built on the total silencing of any effective opposition.

In the late 1970s and 1980s Mohamed Ali Harrath was a prominent figure in the opposition to the one-party government that rules Tunisia to this day. As a founding member of the Tunisian Islamic Front, a political party founded in 1986 he set about opposing the one-party state by peaceful democratic means.

The offence for which he was sentenced to 56 years imprisonment in absentia was 'belonging to an unauthorised political party'. His 'crimes' - distributing leaflets and holding meetings. This point was conveniently ignored by The Times in its articles, despite clear information being provided.

The use by the Tunisian regime of the Red Notice System to inconvenience and harass members or former members of the democratic opposition represents a clear infringement of Article 3 of Interpol’s constitution under which it is "strictly forbidden for the Organisation to undertake any activities of a political, military, religious or racial character."

The publication of the Interpol Red Notice also breaches basic human rights – in particular Article 9 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms which protects the right "...to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by a public authority and regardless of frontiers."

The British authorities are only too well aware that torture and other forms of repression have been common under Ben Ali's authoritarian regime and that any form of political challenge to the tyranny of that regime is dealt with in the harshest possible ways.

With this understanding the British authorities refused a request by Tunisia to extradite Mohamed Ali Harrath in 1997 following a thorough examination of his circumstances and in full knowledge of the Interpol Red Notice. Instead, he was granted political protection under the 1951 Geneva Convention, as were many of those convicted by the Tunisian courts.

That international champions of basic human rights and those that resist the brutality of known tyrannical regimes (and there are many) should be singled out and vilified by one of Britain’s leading newspapers (using a journalist whose recent article on counter terrorism concerns at the 2012 Olympics has been entirely discredited) is itself a disgrace to British journalism and an offence to all those engaged in struggles in support of democracy.

Only a week ago we witnessed the brutal re-arrest of Dr Sadok Chourou (a political prisoner in Tunisia) following 18 years of imprisonment and torture, simply because he chose to give an interview on British based Al Huwa TV in which he made reference to a political organisation (his own party) proscribed by the Tunisian authorities as unlawful.

Earlier this month Amnesty International called on the Tunisian government to answer for their harsh actions against ordinary trade union members who face up to 10 years imprisonment for daring to make public demonstrations about working conditions. The report called for:

‘an independent investigation into allegations of torture and other abuses by security forces when quelling protests earlier this year in the Gafsa region on the eve of the trial of a local trade union leader and 37 others accused of fomenting the unrest. Adnan Hajji, Secretary General of local office of the General Union of Tunisian Workers (UGTT) in Redeyef, and his co-accused are due to go on trial on 4 December 2008 on charges including "forming a criminal group with the aim of destroying public and private property". They could face up to more than ten years of imprisonment if convicted. At least six of 38 accused are to be tried in their absence. In a letter to Tunisia's Minister of Justice and Human Rights Béchir Tekkari, Amnesty International called for the authorities to disclose the outcome of an official investigation which they said had been set up after police opened fire on demonstrators on 6 June 2008, killing one man and injuring others, sparking allegations that police had used excessive force. The letter also detailed cases in which people suspected of organizing or participating in protests are reported to have been detained and tortured by police who forced them to sign incriminating statements that could be used against them at trial and falsified their arrest dates in official records.'

As Mohamed Ali Harrath has tirelessly pointed out to those who seem committed to an anti-Islamist driven witch-hunt against him and others, he has on no occasion been involved in anything other than peaceful protest and has spent his life championing those very rights that we so take for granted here in the UK. As a senior figure in the Muslim community - he has provided opinion and advice to the Muslim Contact Unit, but has never been on the payroll or an appointed advisor to the Scotland Yard or the intelligence services.

As Edmund Burke once so eloquently put it ‘All that is necessary for evil to succeed is that good men do nothing’. There should be no doubt that Mohamed Ali is not only a good man, but one who has risked life and limb in pursuit of those same values which we hold dear in the UK.

Britain has a proud record of providing asylum and offering sanctuary to those that are the victims of persecution in the world. This is one example of a case in which we should show gratitude and compassion and not the base contagious cloud of vilification.
END