TUNISIA Map Geography People Economy Military
One Party System - Political Prisoners of Conscience
Marriages of Muslim Women to Non-Muslim Men Abroad are Prohibited
Non-Muslim Women are Not Permitted to Inherit From Their Husband

Compare Freedom Score of Tunisia (Not Free) and Israel (Free)
Source: Freedom House (PDF, 187 KB)

Compare Human Development Index of Tunisia (0.740) and Israel (0.905) (PDF, 670 KB)
Source: United Nations Human Development Report 2003

Compare Corruption Index of Tunisia (4.8), Israel (7.3), Germany (7.3) and USA (7.7) Source: Transparency International (PDF, 1.8 MB)

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, Tunisia - 2001 (Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor of U.S. Department of State): "... dominated by a single political party. President Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali and his Constitutional Democratic Rally (RCD) party have controlled the Government, including the legislature, since 1987 ... Ben Ali won 99.44 percent of the ballots cast for President ... The Government continued to impose significant restrictions on freedom of speech and of the press ... Muslim women are not permitted to marry outside their religion. Marriages of Muslim women to non-Muslim men abroad are considered common-law, which are prohibited and thus void when the couple returns to the country. Non-Muslim women who marry Muslim men are not permitted to inherit from their husbands, nor may the husbands and any children (who are considered to be Muslim) from the marriage inherit from the non-Muslim wife."

Amnesty International Report 2002, Tunisia: "Up to 1,000 political prisoners, most of them prisoners of conscience, remained in prison. Several had been held for more than a decade. The families of prisoners often faced harassment and denial of their basic rights. The authorities used various means to prevent former prisoners from resuming a normal life after their release. Several political opponents of the government were imprisoned during 2001. They included several political opponents, or alleged opponents, resident abroad who were arrested when they returned to Tunisia and faced unfair trials before military courts. The authorities once again stepped up their repression of human rights defenders. Torture and ill-treatment by the security forces continued to be reported both in police stations and in prisons, in a general context of impunity."

CIA World Factbook (Tunisia)