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TUNIS, June 12, 2013 (AFP)
The trial resumed in Tunis on Wednesday of three European activists with radical women’s protest group Femen, who defended in court their topless anti-Islamist protest for which they risk six months in prison.
The judge opened the hearing by questioning the women, two French and one German, on the reasons and circumstances of their bare-breasted protest on May 29, a first in the Arab world.
“I came on May 28 to stage a political demonstration and support Amina (Sboui, a detained Tunisian activist). We made our plan on the Internet and came from Paris,” said Josephine Markmann, one of the three accused.
“Baring our breasts is not intended to cause sexual excitement but is a form of activism,” said Marguerite Stern, one of the French women.
The German activist said: “I relish every opportunity to express my political views.”
Lawyers for a number of Islamist associations, demanding to take part in the trial as a civil party, condemned the Femen protest in the socially conservative country governed by an Islamist-led coalition.
“It is Islam that honours women and offers them freedom, not the act of undressing,” said Slah Khlifi, one of the Islamist group’s lawyers.
Monaam Turki said their controversial act could be considered an attack on state security “under article 71 of the penal code, which carries a one-year prison sentence.”
Another lawyer cited an Arab proverb, saying: “A free woman prefers to go hungry than to eat thanks to her breasts.”
Judge Karim Chebbi suspended the hearing and indicated his verdict would be made public later on Wednesday. “The case can be settled, and the hearing is suspended for deliberation,” he said.
The women’s lawyers had said that the trial, which has already been put back for a week and the three women denied bail at the first hearing last Wednesday, could be delayed again if the judge decided to recognise the Islamist groups as a civil party.
Three other members of Femen staged a topless protest outside the Tunisian embassy in Madrid on Wednesday to demand the release of their fellow activists.
The case is being closely watched by activists and politicians in Europe, with Femen having also held protests in support of their arrested comrades outside the European Parliament in Brussels, the German chancellor’s office and the Tunisian embassy in Paris.
Their French lawyers said they had not made the trip to Tunis for Wednesday’s trial because they claimed the “rights of the defence are not guaranteed”.
“We are waiting for the clear and unconditional release of our three clients,” Patrick Klugman and Yvan Terel told AFP.
They underlined that if the activists were not freed on Wednesday, they would come “immediately to Tunis” to mobilise international support for the women, especially ahead of the expected visit by French President Francois Hollande in early July.
The women were arrested on May 29 after staging a topless demonstration outside the main courthouse in Tunis in support of Amina Sboui, a Tunisian activist with the same “sextremist” group who had been arrested 10 days earlier.
Sboui had been arrested for painting the word “Femen” on a wall near a cemetery in city of Kairouan last month, in an act of protest against a planned gathering of radical Salafists in the historic Muslim city south of Tunis.
The Tunisian activist, who sparked a scandal in March by posting topless pictures of herself on Facebook, defying Arab-Muslim convention, faces possible charges of indecency and desecrating a cemetery.
TUNIS, June 12, 2013 (AFP)Three European activists with radical women’s protest group Femen were handed four-month jail sentences by a Tunisian court on Wednesday for staging a topless anti-Islamist demonstration last month, one of their lawyers said.“The judge condemned the three Femen activists to four months and one day in prison for an attack on public morals and indecency,” Souheib Bahri told AFP.After the verdict was made public, Femen’s leader in Paris, Inna Shevchenko, vowed that her group would carry out further actions in Tunisia. “It is a political decision that confirms the dictatorial character of Tunisia, which finds it easier to put girls in prison than recognize that women have the right to do what they want with their bodies,” she told AFP by telephone. “We are really angry after this very severe verdict and we will pursue our actions in Tunisia. We are already prepared, we will grow, we will multiply.We will not stop,” she added.The women’s French lawyer, who had said he was ready to travel immediately to Tunis, expressed dismay and called the ruling an attack on freedom of expression. “It’s an extremely heavy sentence. It is a grave attack on freedom of expression, not just for these girls but for freedom of expression in general,” he said.Margaret Stern and Pauline Hillier from France and Josephine Markmann from Germany were arrested on May 29 after staging a topless demonstration outside the main courthouse in Tunis. They were acting in support of Amina Sboui, a Tunisian activist with the same “sextremist” group who had been arrested 10
