Police 'attack' Tunisia communist

Hamma Hammami's party is boycotting this month's polls

A key figure in the Tunisian Communist Party has been beaten up by two policemen, the party says.

Hamma Hammami was asked for his identity card by a plain clothes policeman, and when he asked to see identification, he was beaten.

The party spokesman's glasses were smashed, his shirt ripped and he was subjected to a torrent of foul-mouthed abuse in the street, he says.

Presidential and parliamentary polls are due in Tunisia in two weeks.

But the Communist Party (PCOT), which has not been officially recognised, is boycotting the elections.

President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali has been in power for 17 years and won the last elections with more than 99% of the vote.

The PCOT says that Mr Hammami was released following the intervention of passers-by but that the policemen neglected to return the 60 dinars ($47) they had confiscated from him.

High-profile wife

He is married to Tunisian human rights lawyer Radhia Nasraoui.

Over the past couple of years Mrs Nasraoui, who is well known for defending opposition activists, has gone on hunger-strikes several times to protest against what she called harassment by the authorities.

Last year, Radhia Nasraoui said she was herself assaulted by Tunisian police officers.

She had to be hospitalised last November because of the impact of her latest hunger strike on her health.