Human Rights Watch Updated Briefing Paper On the Human Rights Situation in Tunisia

**Human Rights Watch Calls for International Scrutiny of Tunisia’s Human Rights Situation**

*By [Reporter Name]*

*Tunisia – 4 September 2026* – Human Rights Watch (HRW) released an updated briefing paper on the human rights situation in Tunisia, noting a sharp deterioration in civil liberties and an expanding crackdown on civil society, journalists, and migrants since President Kais Saied seized extraordinary executive powers on 25 July 2021.

### Shrinking Civic Space

HRW reports that Tunisian authorities have systematically targeted civil society organizations (CSOs) through arbitrary arrests, detentions, financial investigations, and administrative suspensions. Since May 2024, at least 47 individuals linked to NGOs have been prosecuted under a range of laws, including the 1975 Law on Passports and Travel Documents, the 1968 Law on the Status of Foreigners, the 2015 Counter‑terrorism and Money Laundering Law, and financial crimes legislation. HRW notes that these charges are “unfounded and overwhelmingly abusive.”

Key cases highlighted in the briefing include:

* **Mustapha Djemali** (81), founder of the Tunisian Council for Refugees, and **Abderrazak Krimi**, a project manager, were arrested in May 2024 for providing accommodation and emergency assistance to registered refugees in partnership with UNHCR. After 19 months in pre‑trial detention, they were convicted in November 2025 and released.
* Three staff members of the French NGO **Terre d’Asile Tunisie** were arrested in May 2024 for assisting refugees and migrants. They received suspended sentences in January 2026 after more than 20 months in detention.
* **Saadia Mosbah**, a Black Tunisian anti‑racism activist and head of the Mnemty Association, was arrested in May 2024 and charged with money laundering and illicit enrichment. She was sentenced to eight years in prison on 19 March 2026, the harshest penalty yet imposed on an NGO worker. The Tunis Appeals Court upheld the sentence.
* **Saloua Ghrissa**, Executive Director of the Association for the Promotion of the Right to Difference (ADD), was detained in December 2024 and held for 15 months before provisional release. Her trial on money‑laundering and foreign‑exchange charges—allegedly linked only to the association’s foreign funding—continues, with the next hearing scheduled for 1 October 2026.

### Financial and Administrative Harassment

In October 2024, the Tax Evasion Investigation and Prevention Brigade opened preliminary investigations into at least a dozen organizations, including Amnesty International’s regional office and the election monitors I Watch and Mourakiboun. Investigators demanded ten years of financial records, summoned staff en masse, and froze bank accounts, effectively halting operations and creating significant debt for the targeted groups.

Between July 2025 and April 2026, a Tunis court ordered the temporary suspension of at least 20 associations, including the Tunisian Association of Democratic Women (ATFD), Aswat Nissa, the Tunisian office of the World Organization Against Torture (OMCT), I Watch, Nawaat journalists’ association, and the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights (FTDES). HRW notes that several suspensions were issued without the formal warnings required by law, and appeals were dismissed, placing the organizations one step away from permanent dissolution. As of August 2026, Al Khatt and Mnemty face dissolution proceedings.

HRW also highlights two attempts by the government to replace the 2011 Decree‑Law 88 on associations with a more restrictive framework that would grant the state pervasive control over independent groups.

### Attacks on Judicial Independence

President Saied dismantled the independent High Judicial Council in 2022, replacing it with a provisional body under executive control. Through two decree‑laws, he granted himself extensive powers to dismiss judges and intervene in their careers. Courts have since issued politically motivated convictions and routinely used pre‑trial detention, a measure that international and Tunisian law treat as exceptional.

In the “Conspiracy Case” mass trial that concluded after three sessions, a Tunis court sentenced 37 people—including lawyers, academics, journalists, and opposition figures—to sentences ranging from four to 66 years. **Ahmed Souab**, a lawyer who defended clients in the case and a former administrative judge, was arrested on 21 April 2025 following comments questioning judicial independence. He was initially sentenced to five years, later reduced to 10 months with an additional two‑year suspended

Article and image source: allafrica.com