Tunisia: Seven Years in Jail for Mocking Islam Revise Laws That Set Prison Terms for “Offending Public Morals” UDPATE July 3, 2012: On June 25, the Court of Appeals in El Monastir confirmed the guilty verdict and the penalties against the two men. (Tunis) – The seven-year prison terms handed down on March 28, 2012 to two Tunisians for publishing writings perceived as offensive to Islam are examples of the need to repeal repressive laws dating to the Ben Ali era, Human Rights Watch said today. One of the men, Ghazi Ben Mohamed Beji, published an excerpt in July 2011 entitled, "The Illusion of Islam," taken from an essay he wrote on www.scribd.com, a free “social publishing” website. In the introduction, he says his intent is to show “the ugly face of Islam.” The essay satirizes aspects of the Prophet Muhammad’s biography, crudely deriding his sexual life. The other man, Jaber Ben Abdallah Majri, published photos on his Facebook page containing caricatures of the Prophet drawn from Beji’s book, along with satirical writings about Islam and the Prophet. “As long as these repressive Ben Ali-era laws are on the books, authorities will have the temptation to use them whenever politically convenient,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. The First Degree Court in the city of Mahdia handed down the prison terms and fines of 1,200 Tunisian dinars ($US 790). The men, both 28, were charged and convicted together by the Mahdia court for publishing materials “liable to cause harm to public order or public morals,” under article 121(3) of the penal code, an article adopted into law in 2001. Majri has been in prison in Mahdia since March 5. Beji, who fled to Europe on March 9, was convicted in absentia. The case is at least the third in which authorities have brought charges for speech deemed offensive to Islam or morality since the country’s new National Constituent Assembly convened in November 2011. The prosecution of Majri and Beji followed a complaint filed on March 3 by a Mahdia lawyer, Foued Sheikh Zaouali. He contended that Majri had caused “harm to the Prophet by photos and writings and harm to the sacred values of Islam causing fitna (division) between Muslims.” The lawyer told Human Rights Watch that he filed the complaint after visiting Majri’s Facebook page and finding the caricatures. The original complaint only concerned Majri, who was arrested on March 5 and appeared before the investigating judge the same day. Based on the transcript of Majri’s interrogation obtained by Human Rights Watch, he said that the photos and writings on his Facebook page reflect his