Tunis, 4 June (AKI) - Three feminists from the Ukrainian group Femen were on Wednesday due to be tried in the Tunisian capital Tunis for 'offending public decency' after they held a topless protest there last week.

The trio, one German and two French women face prison sentences of up to six months if they are convicted.

They were arrested on 29 of May after they bared their breasts outside the justice ministry in support of detained Tunisian feminist Amina Tyler.

Tyler was on Wednesday due to be interrogated by an investigative judge in the southern city of Kerouan for 'desecrating a cemetery and carrying self-defence spray'.

Amnesty International last Friday called for Tunisian authorities to release Tyler, whose real name is Amina Sboui, saying the charges against her appeared to be politically motivated and infringed her freedom of expression.

Sboui was arrested in Kerouan on 19 May, apparently after painting the word “Femen” on a wall near a cemetery in protest at hardline Islamists from Ansar al-Sharia who had hoped to hold a conference in the city before it was banned by police.

She was arrested outside the cemetery and charged with possession of a self-defence spray – for which she was convicted and fined 300 Tunisian dinars (about 184 dollars), Amnesty said.

Sboui was remanded in custody last Thursday on accusations of desecrating a cemetery, belonging to a criminal organisation and undermining public morals, offences which carry punishments of several years' imprisonment under the Tunisian Penal Code, Amnesty noted.

Sboui came to national and international attention and had to go into hiding after receiving death threats when she posted a photo of herself bare-chested on Facebook in a Femen-inspired protest.

Via: adnkronos.com

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