Tunis - The Tunisian government on Friday protested plans to send Tunisian prisoners from Guantanamo to Europe rather than Tunisia out of fears they could face torture in their home country. Ten Tunisian nationals are held in the US military's prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The US government has been negotiating their resettlement in Hungary, Italy and Spain because of fears that the men might be tortured if sent back to Tunisia.
"It is completely unacceptable that their resettlement be accompanied by allegations that they face violations of their human rights in their home country," Tunisia's Ministry of Justice and Human Rights said in a statement sent to reporters.
Tunisian and international human rights groups have repeatedly accused the government of routinely torturing or mistreating prisoners.
"These allegations are completely groundless, and are designed to cover up the violations (the prisoners) suffered when they were arrested," the Tunisian Ministry of Justice said.
In July 2007, Abdullah al-Hajji ben Amor, a Tunisian returned from Guantanamo to Tunisia, where he was imprisoned on a 12-year-old conviction, told his lawyer that his treatment in a Tunisian prison was so bad that "he wished he were back in Guantanamo," according to a sworn statement from the lawyer.
That November, a US federal judge blocked the US government from sending another Tunisian prisoner back to his home country out of fear he could suffer "irreparable harm" in Tunisian custody.
The Ministry of Justice on Friday said any Guantanamo detainees accused of crimes in Tunisia could be assured of a fair trial in Tunisia, and that they would suffer no harm.
