Authorities are openly consolidating power, restricting media freedom, and stifling civil society, including by targeting journalists and bloggers.
This statement was originally published on gc4hr.org on 14 March 2025.
Tunisian democracy faces significant challenges due to the repression practiced by the authorities. Public opinion, political society, and civil society are anticipating a peaceful popular uprising that will restore public freedoms and citizens’ civil and human rights to their former glory and vigour following a presidential election in October 2024 whose context, results, and repercussions are a sure opportunity to inspire change.
“False” Promises
We are facing a sad Tunisian scene marked by anticipation in the face of a terrifying trilogy of repression, excessive talk, and a lack of serious action by the current ruling authority.
Most representatives of opposition political parties and civil society organisations have disappeared from the scene after being threatened with imprisonment, forcing them to remain silent. Indeed, some of their leaders have been imprisoned by authoritarian decisions rather than fair sentences, after facing vague, fabricated, and unclear charges.
This is what a number of human rights associations and labour unions have confirmed, having suffered greatly from these restrictions, even extending to the Tunisian General Labour Union, which the authorities have had no qualms about encroaching upon. As for civil society organisations, most have been silenced through spreading fear and intimidation.
Between the sweet hope of a prosperous future for all and the melodious promises issued by the authorities, the Tunisian people remain torn about managing their daily lives and the pursuit of a livelihood, which has become a daily struggle, along with the great suffering of enduring the poor quality of public services, such as transportation, health care, and education. All of this has led to their preoccupation with these vital matters, far removed from the country’s politics, making it easier for the authorities to implement their unjust policies.
Stolen Freedoms and Mass Arrests
The political trials that have been ongoing since 25 July 2021 against a number of detained politicians belonging to various political movements, whose cases are linked to opposition activities and the exercise of freedoms of expression, the press, publication and peaceful assembly, constitute a serious restriction of rights and freedoms.
The most prominent of these cases is the “conspiracy against state security” case, which involved 40 detainees and included prominent figures from the Tunisian opposition.
Here it is as if history repeats itself. In the early 1960s, supporters of Salah Ben Youssef were arrested and charged with planning a coup and the assassination of President Habib Bourguiba. Reports circulated that all of this was intended to exclude and eliminate the opposition.
The government is directly and openly pursuing the centralisation of power, restricting media freedom, and stifling civil society, including by targeting several journalists and bloggers. This comes at a time when fair trial guarantees are weak in the country, particularly with regard to the exercise of the right to a legal defense, as well as the absence of an independent and fair judiciary that meets the minimum international standards for fair trial and due process.
These complaints were contained in three statements issued by the Tunisian Judges Association on 17 February 2025. The first was devoted to the civil judiciary, the second to the administrative court, and the third to the Court of Accounts, also known as the Court of Auditors. All three statements unanimously diagnosed the state of the judiciary, describing it as disastrous. They also described the financial judiciary as deteriorating. These same reports considered the administrative judiciary a harbinger of dire consequences.
Security “Without Security”
The phenomenon of violence by security forces has expanded in recent months, in a barbaric, inhumane, and unjust manner, oscillating between the misuse of security positions and the cries and pleas of abused citizens subjected to such unlawful violations.
On 16 February 2025, young citizen Atef Al-Kahlawi faced severe violence, which was documented on video. This attack was followed by a series of attacks targeting other citizens who faced the same fate, sometimes with unacceptable justifications from the Ministry of Interior, and often with silence.
This recurring and renewed violence manifests itself in forms that have nothing to do with human rights and do not respect the most basic humanitarian principles enshrined in the Constitution and the Code of Criminal Procedure. The most dangerous aspect of this phenomenon is that this violence is carried out in the name of the state and for the benefit of the security forces, in the absence of any real and effective measures to prevent it from becoming systematic in the practices of security personnel who brandish their immunity, which contradicts human rights law and establishes a policy of impunity.
Legitimising violence by any means is a crime fuelled by the state’s policies of entrenching impunity, which has its roots from the era of former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to the 2021 crisis, which saw a pattern of serious violations and police violence, and continues to this day.
The recent elections witnessed, in their early stages, security and judicial persecution of candidates, the authorities’ refusal to implement Administrative Court rulings, exploitation of state agencies, changes to laws after the start of the election campaign, and the exclusion of most candidates.
Recommendations
The Tunisian authorities must take the following actions with all seriousness and responsibility:
- Work to support and protect freedom of expression, opinion, and peaceful assembly, leaving no room for further violations;
- Stop using the judiciary to target civil society and political activists, which prevents the building of a state of true citizenship and constitutional institutions;
- Call for a serious response to the violence perpetrated by security forces and end the policy of impunity; and
- Allow political parties and civil society organisations to carry out their activities freely and without restrictions or any significant conditions.
