Brussels, 24/06/2002 (Agence Europe) - At the 5th General Assembly of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) in Athens from 13 to 15 June, a certain number of human rights defenders from throughout the region expressed their deep concerns at the absence of the Tunisian judge Mokhtar Yakiaoui, who, deprived of his passport by the Tunisian authorities, was prevented from leaving the country. Likewise, Lyad al-Ahmed and Hamdi Shaqquara of the Palestinian Human Rights Centre, were not able to leave the Gaza Strip, having waited 13 hours at the border post of Rafah. The General Assembly expressed its support for Zouhair Yahyaoui, arrested on 4 June and who risks up to a 5 a year sentence for having spread information on the Internet on Tunisia, as well as Marwan Barghouti, still kept in isolation by the Israeli authorities. Participants also expressed their deep concern for the condemnation of the former Jordanian MP Toujan al-Faisal, sentenced to 18 years in prison following new laws in Jordan limiting freedom of expression.
The 45 human rights groups from 21 countries of the Mediterranean Basin also deeply criticised the frequent and serious violations of foreign detainees in Greece. They observed, notably, that: (1) illegal migrants or asylum-seekers are often judged, without the benefit of legal counselling, and condemned to imprisonment or exclusion after trials that only last a few minutes; (2) conditions of detention are in many cases degrading and humiliating and access to lawyers and NGOs severely and arbitrarily limited. They welcome the declaration by the Human Rights Commissioner of the Council of Europe who said that: "Greece should not forget that expulsees also are human beings" and calling on the Greek authorities to radically alter their way of treating foreigners arrested, imprisoned, judged or expulsed. The UN, the OSCE, the Council of Europe and the European Union called for al mechanisms placed at their disposal to be used to secure that Greece respects its commitments regarding human rights.