Tunisia dismisses UN criticism over political crackdown
Tunisia has dismissed criticisms from the UN over its crackdown on political opposition, expressing “deep astonishment” at the accusations.
Reported by The New Arab on February 25th, the UN has accused the state of cracking down on political opponents, but President Kais Saied’s government has said the criticisms are inaccurate and unfounded.
Last week, the UN human rights office condemned the arbitrary arrests, flawed trials and vague charges against activists, journalists and opposition figures, many of whom have been detained for charges of plotting “against state security.”
The decline in political freedoms marks a depressing paradigm shift from the Tunisia that emerged from the Arab Spring of the early 2010s, where the country emerged as the best and only hope for democracy in the Middle East. Kais Saied was elected in 2019 but, in 2021, he staged a sweeping power grab that has been characterized by a rollback on freedoms.
Dozens of political figures, including Rached Ghannouchi, head of the Ennahdha Party, and Islamist-leaning opposition party, as well as businessmen and journalists, are in detention.
Yet, the Foreign Office issued a statement on Facebook stating, “Tunisia has received with deep astonishment the inaccuracies and criticisms contained in the statement issued by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, regarding the situations of some Tunisian citizens who are subject to judicial prosecution by the national judiciary.”
The statement went on to emphasise that Tunisia is a state that intrinsically respects human rights and, “in this context, Tunisia can give lessons to those who think they are in a position to make statements or lessons.”
Rached Ghannouchi was arrested in April 2023 and first sentenced to one year in prison on charges of incitement. A lifetime opponent of the regime, the 83-year-old is a main political rival of President Saied. Maghrebi has reported on Ghannouchi’s detention and the extension of his prison sentence to an additional 22 years of prison.
The Ennahdha Party has lambasted the sentencing, describing it as “nothing more than a political trial” that belongs to “a period that people sought to leave behind through their revolution,” a reference to the revolution which overthrew the dictator Ben Ali.
The New Arab, Maghrebi
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