Tunisia in arrested development over human rights, says Amnesty

Arab Spring success in the crisis that the report on the first anniversary of free elections reveals the repression of dissent by the new leaders

Progress on human rights in Tunisia after the revolution of the Arab Spring last year is being reversed by the current government, said Amnesty International, as the country marks the first anniversary of free and fair democratic elections.

reforms that followed the departure of President Ali Zein al-Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011 - including the release of political prisoners, new laws on freedom of the press and associations - have not followed, said. Last October elections were widely hailed as representing a model of transition to democracy.

However, in the latest in a series of tests by international human rights observers, Amnesty says that recent months have seen new restrictions on the freedom of expression of journalists, artists, for people Government critics, writers and bloggers.

"The protesters, who continued to take to the streets in different parts of Tunisia to express their dissatisfaction with the slow pace of reforms have been met with excessive force and unnecessary," said Amnesty adding that has received reports of torture and other ill-treatment ", many of them protesters who were beaten during demonstrations, in custody or in detention centers."

• state of emergency in force since the uprising has been renovated several times, most recently until the end of this month. The Tunisian authorities have also been "unable or unwilling" to protect individuals against attacks that are believed to be affiliated with Salafi groups.
• Last week, Human Rights Watch said it had documented a series of attacks by radical religious groups against political activists, the authorities had not investigated. HRW also expressed concern that a bill that prohibits the Ben Ali era of government to seek the office was too restrictive and does not move the "inclusive democracy".

Tunisian Journalists also on strike, accusing the government of trying to impose new controls. Investigators from the UN and the African Union recently noted human rights violations, including attacks against journalists, artists and activists, torture, threats conservative Islamist groups and the use of excessive force against demonstrators police.

Tunisia was the first and most peaceful uprisings of the Arab Spring, sending shock waves through the Middle East and North Africa when Ben Ali, who had ruled the country since 1987, was overthrown and fled into exile in Saudi Arabia.

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