Tunisia: Escalation of violations against rights defenders and activists undermines constitution, international obligations

tunisia

Geneva – Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor is closely monitoring the systemic crackdown on human rights defenders and activists, especially lawyers, in Tunisia. The Tunisian authorities, judiciary, and security agencies have been escalating their campaign against human rights defenders and activists since overturn of the government in July 2021. Since then, at least 24 lawyers have been arbitrarily arrested for cases relating to freedom of opinion and expression and other activism-related charges, and most of them are still detained, while some have been sentenced to prison.

The judicial and executive measures adopted by the Tunisian authorities constitute a grave violation of the right to a fair trial as well as the right to freedom of opinion and expression, as reported by a number of Tunisian lawyers to Euro-Med Monitor.

The systemic violations are explicitly clear, they say, when looking at the judicial authorities’ restriction of communication to lawyers from those detained in Tunisian prisons. Before the current crisis, lawyers’ visits to their clients was unrestricted, then later restricted to 10 days per month; now, these visits are restricted to just one day per month. In addition, judges arbitrarily decide whether or not they will allow a lawyer to visit a specific detainee, and lawyers representing multiple detainees are only allowed to visit a single detainee selected by the judge.

In addition to arbitrarily arrests, torture and inhuman and degrading treatment against lawyers has been widely reported by the same lawyers to Euro-Med Monitor. The case of lawyer Mahdi Zagrouba, for example, was presented before an investigative judge with Zagrouba displaying clear signs of torture, without the judge taking any measures to protect him.

The case of lawyer Sonia Dahmani is another clear example of grave violations against the right to fair trial, freedom of opinion and expression, and protection from degrading and inhuman treatment. Following her appeal of the sentence against her, Tunisian authorities changed the director of the prison in which Dahmani is detained. The new director systemically restricted Dahmani’s rights by subjecting her to complete strip searches, with no justification, every time she was visited by her lawyers or rights organisations. The director also banned the medicine necessary to treat her thyroid gland condition for an entire month, and now, only insufficient doses are allowed, despite continual requests. Dahmani was also moved to a different cell in which the mattress was filled with bugs. In one of her visits to court, she was forced to wear slippers instead of proper shoes, despite having a pair in the prison; the director explicitly informed Dahmani that “this is your right, but I forbid you”. She was also made to undergo an inspection and thorough search before going to court, despite other prisoners on the same day not having to do the same.

The search occurred on 20 August 2024 in the presence of only one officer, in contradiction with Tunisian law, which requires at least two officers to be present during the search. Dahmani was forced to strip down without any kind of barrier for privacy in the room, and initially tried to refuse being searched under such conditions. Afraid of being arbitrarily punished, Dahmani ultimately complied; she was then commanded her to bend over and cough several times while being inappropriately touched by the officer, who in addition used inappropriate language with her.

After the search, Dahmani was asked to wear a traditional Sefsari outfit—unlike the other prisoners. Within Tunisian prisons, this outfit is only used for those convicted in adultery and prostitution cases, and was therefore a clear attempt to insult Dahmani and discriminate against her on the basis of gender, especially given that no other prisoner, male or female, is currently being forced to wear a specific uniform to court. Dahmani refused to wear the Sefsari, and the prison director was called to the room and started attempting to coerce her. Due to her complete refusal to wear the Sefsari, Dahmani was sent to another room and told that a male officer was opening an investigation against her. Fearing that she might miss her final appeal session in court, Dahmani agreed to wear the Sefsari, yet, despite the vehicle still present at the prison’s premises and ready to transport her to court, the director refused to allow her to go to court, and instead told the court that Dahmani refused to go. Dahmani was asked to sign the investigation’s papers saying that she didn’t want to go to court, but refused; the papers were then sent to court without her signature. Despite Dahmani’s lawyers requesting, in court, that the prison director be ordered to bring Dahmani there, the director still refused to allow Dahmani to go to court.

This systemic violation of Dahmani’s rights—just one of many cases involving political prisoners whose right to freedom of expression has been violated—does not end here. Dahmani’s family tried to send her new clothes and medication after the court session, but the director refused to allow these in. Dahmani’s request to shower with warm water is constantly refused, and her family is not allowed to visit her without having a barrier between them. In addition, the sitting investigative judge informed Dahmani’s lawyers that he is annoyed by the continual requests to visit her, and, thus, will be studying each request separately before deciding on any visit.

Dahmani’s family and her defence team have filed separate suits against the director of the prison and the officer who stripped searched Dahmani with no other officer present.

Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor condemns the inhuman and degrading treatment of detainees by Tunisian authorities and the judiciary and prison administrations, especially those detained for freedom of expression-related cases. The measures committed by Tunisian authorities against human rights defenders and activists, especially lawyers who participate in the public sphere to advance public interest, constitute a grave violation of the Tunisian constitution, specifically Article 36, which guarantees humane treatment for prisoners, and Article 37, which guarantees the right to freedom of opinion and expression, in addition to violating and undermining Tunisia’s international obligations including to the International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights and the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.


Euro-Med Monitor calls on the Tunisian government to abide by its constitutional duties and international obligations to promote and protect human rights, and to stop its systemic campaign against lawyers, who are a cornerstone for the enjoyment of human rights in any democratic society. Euro-Med Monitor also call on the global community, especially the European Union and its Member States, to revisit their relations with the current Tunisian government in light of the ongoing, systemic, and grave violations of human rights.

Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor is a Geneva-based independent organization with regional offices across the MENA region and Europe

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