Tunisian court releases European Femen activists

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/27/tunisia-releases-european-femen-activists

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A Tunisian court has ordered the release of three European feminist activists who staged a topless protest in Tunis last month against the Islamist-led government.

The release of the three women – one German and two French members of the women's rights group Femen – may mollify the European Union, Tunisia's main economic ally.

They were sentenced to four months in jail for indecency this month after their 29 May protest to call for the release of a fellow activist, Tunisian Amina Tyler.

Tyler, 18, remains in custody, awaiting trial. She was arrested in Kairouan on 19 May after she hung a feminist banner from the wall of a mosque and tried to bare her breasts, on the same day the Islamist Ansar al-Sharia group held a rally in the city that authorities tried to ban.

The decision to jail the three European women angered France, Germany and the European Union, who urged the Islamist-led government to reform its laws on freedom of expression.

"The court sentenced these three activists to four months suspended jail terms ... [the] women would leave Tunisia as soon as possible", one of their lawyers, Souhaib Bahri, told Reuters.

Witnesses said the women left the Manouba prison late on Wednesday night.

Marguerite Stern and Pauline Hillier of France and Josephine Markmann of Germany apologised during their appeals hearing on Wednesday.

"I didn't think it was going to shock Tunisians to that extent. I would never do it again. We want to return to our country and our loved ones," Hillier said.

Femen has staged protests across Europe, mainly against Russia's detention of the all-female Pussy Riot punk band last year.

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