Amnesty spokesman Olivier Jacoulet describes the government's tactics

A new report by the human rights organisation also said the government had harassed human rights activists in the country, using phone tapping, sleaze campaigns, torture and imprisonment.

The Website focuses on the progress of human rights in Tunisia since 1987, the legal status of women and achievements in government policies on freedom of expression and public liberties.

Tunisian President Ben Ali's government has praised its human rights record

But Amnesty says that it is an attempt to mislead the public by using its name.

Amnesty Secretary-General Pierre Sane told a gathering of 100 human rights activists in Johannesburg on Wednesday that Tunisia was brilliant at "committing human rights violations while pretending to be a democratic country".

He said: "They have developed a very sophisticated system of repressing human rights defenders. Tunisia is an example of what might happen in other countries in the future."

Tunisian retaliation

Mr al Ramdhani (in Arabic): The report is unjust

Tunisia has rejected the Amnesty allegations.

The head of the Tunisian Agency of External Communications, Ossami al Ramdhani, told the BBC that the human rights activists and lawyers named in the report had been imprisoned because they had all broken the law.

He said: "Amnesty on the issue of this report and on previous issues has been extremely unjust."

He also accused some Amnesty members of being politically and ideologically biased.

An Amnesty spokesman, Olivier Jacoulet, rejected the Tunisian counter-allegations.

"What we report is factually based. It has been carefully researched over the years. And we quote precise cases.