International rights groups condemn Tunisia’s unjust trials

Tunisia is facing increasing scrutiny from international rights groups for its political trials, as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are decrying the unjust and politically motivated conspiracy trials that they consider as an “assault on the rule of law”, according to Al Jazeera on November 14th.

Since Saied’s self-coup in 2021, civil society has deeply suffered, and the Tunisian president has continued to expand its decried control over the nations’ independent institutions. Tunisia’s democratic advances gained after the 2011 revolution were slowly destroyed in this process.

The widely boycotted 2022 referendum to introduce a new constitution enshrined Kais Saied’s rule by decree. However, the 2015 counter-terrorism law and the “fake news” legislation passed in 2022 have become essential tools for the president’s attacks against his opposition.

The Tunisian authorities have been cracking down on opponents of the Tunisian president Kais Saied, while also targeting activists and foreign and local NGOs. Under Saied, the North African country’s civil liberties have significantly decayed, and the judiciary system suffered multiple blows in its independence, as the ruler is using it to carry out its sham trials and to justify his actions.

“Suspicious” foreign funding and protecting “national interests” are part of the reasoning used by Tunisia’s government to enforce unjust measures against the NGOs and the activists. Under these pretences, Amnesty International reported that the independent NGOs are facing the suspension of their activities, asset freezes and banking restrictions.

Human rights activists and NGO workers have been arbitrarily arrested and detained. The targeted individuals are being criminally prosecuted for exercising their work that supports refugees and asylum seekers in Tunisia.

In a few months, 14 Tunisian and international NGOs were temporarily suspended by the government, including the World Organization against Torture and the Tunisian Association of Democratic Women. This clearly continues in Saied’s policies to attack Tunisia’s democracy and his willingness to silence and intimidate the ones reporting on his authorities’ human rights abuses. 

In a mass trial under charges of terrorism and conspiracy against the state, political opponents and critics were sentenced to up to 66 years in prison in April 2025. The jailed opposition are set to appear in the Tunis Court of Appeal to challenge the court’s ruling on November 17th.

After they examined the judicial documents of this conspiracy case, Human Rights Watch reported that the charges were unfounded and that the evidence was not credible. The NGO is calling for the Court of Appeal to overturn their unjust and politically motivated sentences and to release every detainee.

Ever since they were arrested, multiple opposition leaders went on a hunger strike several times to protest their unjust detention and their poor treatment in prison. The recent wave of hunger strikes was started by Jawher Ben Mbarek on October 29th, and he was brutally beaten by prison officers during his strike on November 11th to reportedly intimidate him.

Al Jazeera, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Maghrebi.org