Brussels, 22/06/2010 (Agence Europe) - Daniel Cohn-Bendit, joint leader of the Greens/EFA Group, Hélène Flautre, a member of that group, and John Ratson Saul, the president of PEN International, have joined with Tunisian anti-government activist Sihem Ben Sedrine, spokesman for the CNLT (National Committee for Freedom in Tunisia) to condemn, in a joint press release, the recent adoption by the Tunisian parliament of a law “passed without debate, at the request of the government” which states that “any Tunisian or foreign national … having contact with agents of a foreign power the aim or result of which is to harm the military or diplomatic situation of Tunisia … will be considered guilty of damaging the external security of the state and punished”.
The signatories of the press release criticise “the adoption of this law one month after the EU-Tunisia Association Council which decided to explore the possibility of granting Tunisia enhanced status, while calling on it to increase its efforts on freedom of expression and freedom of association and on protecting human rights activists”, and they issued an invitation to attend a press conference in the European Parliament Press Room in Brussels on Wednesday 23 June. (F.B./transl.rt)