Two Tunisian lawyers were imprisoned by the Tunisian government after comparing the treatment of Tunisian prisoners to that of prisoners held at Iraq’s Abu Gharib prison. Mohammed Abbou was sentenced to three and a half years for making the comparison in an online article published in August of last year. Faouzi Ben M’rad was sentenced to four months in prison for similar comments he made outside of a courthouse where he was arguing a case. Sarah Leah Whitson of Human Rights Watch expressed outrage at the jailings and commented, “Respect for the right to free and peaceful expression, association, and assembly is an essential element of democracy.”(5/6/05) While not directly criticizing the Tunisian government, the US State Department stated that they were “very concerned” about the situation.