LONDON – British lawyer Rodney Dixon announced the launch of legal steps to ask the British Foreign Office to impose sanctions on the Tunisian president and 4 ministers in his government, during a seminar in the British capital London on the Tunisian political crisis.

The British lawyer was accompanied at the seminar by Kawthar Ferjani, the daughter of former Tunisian parliamentarian Sayed Ferjani, who is currently detained and has been on hunger strike since his arrest on February 23 until March 11.

Kawthar Ferjani hired a well-known law firm in Britain to proceed with a case to impose sanctions on those involved in violating the rights of her father, Sayed Ferjani, and dozens of detainees in Tunisia.

The dossier filed by the British lawyer seeks sanctions against Tunisian President Kais Saied for being implicated in serious rights abuses (Reuters)

Sanctions

British lawyer Rodney Descon revealed that there are chapters in British law that allow the government to impose sanctions on people involved in human rights violations anywhere in the world, and there are many names that fall under this law.

The lawyer stressed that the British Foreign Office should impose sanctions on Tunisian President Kais Saied and a number of those around him, namely two Tunisian interior ministers, the minister of defense and the minister of justice, stressing: "These five people we have evidence are involved in serious human rights violations in order to silence any dissenting voice or person critical of Kais Saied."

The spokesman stressed that they submitted to the Foreign Ministry a complete file "showing concretely and with all legal evidence the occurrence of human rights violations and violations of international laws," calling on the British Foreign Secretary to deal with the file as soon as possible.

As for the penalties that British law allows to impose on personalities involved in human rights violations, they are a ban on travel to Britain, as well as a ban on practicing any commercial activity inside Britain, and the seizure of all property and capital located there.

On the possibility of these five personalities having any property or capital in Britain, the legal expert said that "the British government has the ability to track the properties that these people have in Britain, if any, and this was reflected in its ability to freeze the capital of a number of Russian businessmen," before pointing out that there are a number of confidential data that have been submitted to the British Foreign Office, and cannot be disclosed at the moment.


Moving to Europe

Lawyer Dixon also pointed out during the seminar that his office will work to implement the sanctions measures, if approved by the British Foreign Office, within the rest of the European countries, "because these countries have the same sanctions regime applied in Britain, as well as have a similar legal structure."

After expressing his confidence in the strength of the file that was submitted to the British Foreign Office, the British lawyer stressed that "all the evidence says that what is happening is a continuous and systematic campaign of repression and violation of human rights, and it is not related to individual cases," continuing that the file contains cases of figures from the judiciary and parliamentarians who were arrested and beaten without any concrete evidence against them.

The British lawyer addressed the British Foreign Secretary, reminding him of his first speech during his tenure, that British diplomacy will not stand by in the face of human rights violations in the world, "and therefore we ask him to act quickly to stop these violations and protect the detained people, some of whose lives are at risk."

The spokesman pointed out that the legal ways to punish human rights violators in Tunisia are many, including resorting to the International Criminal Court and the African Court of Human Rights, in addition to the fact that Tunisia is a signatory to the Convention against Torture and Enforced Disappearances.

Opposition Salvation Front rallies in Tunisia demanding release of detained politicians and activists (Social Media)

Save my father.

Kawthar Ferjani narrowly shed tears as she gave her speech to talk about her father's health and the conditions of his detention, beginning by recalling that her father is being arrested for the second time in his life, "The first was I was still a child and I remember how he was taken from the house during the Ben Ali era and how he was tortured until he could no longer walk."

Kawthar confirmed that her father pays – for the second time – the price for defending democracy and human rights "to be arrested at the age of 68, and charged with serious charges without any evidence," continuing that her father asked the judge who presided over his trial to look into his eyes, "but the judge could not because he knows that it is a fabricated case and there is no material evidence in it."

Kawthar spoke of her father's health condition, who spent about two weeks on hunger strike, "to the point that once he lost consciousness and was rescued at the last moment, and he often loses consciousness and suffers from many health problems," adding that for 24 days it was difficult for her to communicate with her father.

Kawthar expressed her determination to make the voices of all detainees heard, "and Tunisians inside the country, to release the detainees and ensure that those involved in human rights violations do not escape reason."