Human Rights Watch had a spot of bother earlier this week over a press conference in Tunisia to introduce its latest report on the regime's harassment of critics:

"On March 22, the Minister for Communications, Oussama Romdhani, told Human Rights Watch that the government did not want the news conference to proceed. Officials from the ministries of Interior and Justice said that they would not allow it to proceed because it 'tarnishes the image of Tunisia and is one-sided and biased'. Some journalists received phone calls from the authorities that the Human Rights Watch event was forbidden.

"Several hotels in Tunis that had previously offered Human Rights Watch rates for a room for the briefing withdrew those offers. A hotel suite booked by Human Rights Watch on March 23 was flooded three hours after the Human Rights Watch staff checked in ... and the hotel was unable to offer Human Rights Watch another room. As a result, the event was moved to the offices of a Tunis law firm.

"Plainclothes police officers on foot, on motorcycles, and in cars have openly and regularly followed Human Rights Watch staff as they moved about Tunis. At least six plainclothes security agents patrolled the street outside the downtown law office and recorded the licence plate numbers of cars parked nearby."

This was a pretty stupid way to behave, because it only lends credence to the key argument in HRW's report – that “when Tunisia releases political prisoners, it ensures that life resembles a larger prison defined by surveillance, threats, and a cocktail of restrictions.” 

A much smarter approach – especially since the Tunisian authorities are claiming the report is wrong – would have been to let the press conference go ahead unmolested, as the Libyans didearlier this year (much to their credit).

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 25 March 2010.