Tunisia has vastly increased politically motivated arrests and prosecutions to harass and silence opponents, a Human Rights Watch report published Wednesday finds.
In a sweeping erosion of gains made through Tunisia’s 2011 revolution, the authorities in recent years have targeted judges, lawyers, journalists and activists in a clampdown on President Kais Saied’s critics.
“Since the revolution of 2011, Tunisian authorities have not exercised this level of repression,” said Bassam Khawaja, HRW deputy Middle East and North Africa director. “Saied’s administration has dragged Tunisia back into the era of political detainees, depriving Tunisians of the hard-won civil rights,” he went on to say.
Over 50 individuals are currently held on political grounds, according to Human Rights Watch, referring to a January count. Twenty-two are held arbitrarily, while 14 have charges that if they are found guilty could include the death penalty.
Strengthening the grip on authority
Tunisian officials have yet to react to the claims outlined in the report, which establishes a direct connection between the judiciary and measures Saied has implemented to centralise power since 2021.
Then, citing the COVID-19 pandemic and internal political turmoil, he suspended parliament, redrafted the constitution to centralise his authority and set about asserting greater control over the judiciary.
The stranglehold of authorities over the judiciary, after frequent assaults on its independence, provokes grave suspicions regarding guarantees for fair trials of detainees, according to the fresh report. Saied was elected in a landslide last October after a campaign in which his strongest opponents were jailed, barred from running or imprisoned. The report mentions military courts and what it describes as “overly broad and abusive charges,” such as threatening state security, as among the measures to muzzle dissent.
Politicians, lawyers, journalists and activists have been put on trial for disrespecting the president or disseminating so-called “fake news.
Politicians, journalists, students and lawyers arrested
Decree-Law 54, the cybercrime law that was enacted in 2022, is now a major tool. At least 28 individuals — nine of them journalists — have been charged under the legislation, which carries a minimum five-year prison sentence for anyone convicted of sharing false information.
Both the high-profile individuals and ordinary citizens who are detained arbitrarily are in Tunisia.
They include Rached Tamboura, a student of calligraphy who was jailed for graffiti criticising Saied and how he has treated Black migrants; right-wing politician Abir Moussi; and several members and former leaders of Ennahda, the Islamist party marginalised under Saied’s presidency.
The most prominent detainee is the former head of the party Rached Ghannouchi, who was arrested in 2023 and now stands trial on several counts. His relatives informed Human Rights Watch that they have refused him some of his requests for customary medical treatment.