Political leader jailed in Tunisia

A veteran Tunisian opposition leader who came out of hiding after four years has been given a lengthy jail sentence amid chaotic scenes at the court hearing.

Mr Hammi Hammami, leader of the Communist Workers' Party of Tunisia, had a nine-years and three-month sentence confirmed at the hearing on Saturday. Two co-defendants were given similar jail terms, and one was given an additional two years for contempt of court.

Mr Hammami's wife, Radhia Nasraoui, attended the Front Line human rights conference in Dublin last month, at which she pleaded with the Government to make representations about human rights in her country.

Human rights activists who attended the hearing in Tunis alleged that police beat up people in a crowd outside. French and German television news teams had video-tapes confiscated by police. The Paris-based press freedom watchdog group Reporters sans Frontieres (Reporters without Borders) denounced the police action and urged that the tapes be returned.

Mr Hammami (49), and his co-accused were charged with belonging to an unauthorised organisation, holding illegal meetings, disruption of public order, inciting rebellion and disseminating false information. After Mr Hammami emerged from hiding, plain-clothes and uniformed police burst into court to arrest him and his two co-accused, Mr Abdeljabar Maduri and Mr Samir Taamallah, before the session began.

Mr Hammami's 13-year-old daughter, who had accompanied Ms Nasraoui and another daughter to court, was hurt in the crush as she tried to hold onto her father.

Lawyers representing the three men, who had been in hiding for four years, denounced what they called "an abduction", and walked out.

The accused were eventually led into another courtroom in handcuffs but police intervened again after the three men denounced what they called "savage methods" and demanded a "regular trial".

A verdict was finally handed down late on Saturday with the court building surrounded by police and the accused left without lawyers. A group of 11 human rights organisations have addressed a letter to President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali expressing their outrage at the proceedings.

The letter, from groups including the Bar Council of England and Wales Human Rights Committee, said the trial was marked by grave violations of the rule of law and violence against the press. Activists at home and abroad accuse the Tunisian government of widespread human rights abuses including the torture and harassment of dissidents.