The Arab Law Students’ Association, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee,
and the Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law
present
THE CHALLENGES OF
HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISM
IN TUNISIA
FEATURING
SAMIR DILOU,
TUNISIAN HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST
Tuesday, November 28
1:30pm - 3:00pm
WCL Rm. 500
The Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law hosted a discussion with Samir Dilou, a human rights activist from Tunisia, who discussed his experience as a political prisoner as well as his current activism in the human rights field. Mr. Dilou was a political prisoner for 10 years, 2 months and 8 days in Tunisia. An outspoken but nonviolent young activist, he was put in prison for being a leader of the student union at his university. While in prison from 1991-2001, he coordinated and participated in hunger strikes to protest the inhumane conditions within Tunisian prisons, which often resulted in him being placed in isolation and tortured. After his release, Mr. Dilou continued his struggle for human rights with the International Association for the Support of Political Prisoners in Tunisia and Vérité-Action in Switzerland. Acknowledging the value of Mr. Dilou's work, the international organization Freedom House invited him to be a Visiting Fellow in the United States as part of the New Generation of Advocates Program.