Tunisia’s authoritarian government has stepped up its criminalisation of dissent, recently arresting activists, journalists and lawyers. Several of those detained are from civil society groups campaigning against racism and for migrants’ rights. They’re paying the price for President Kais Saied’s scapegoating of migrants and refugees. International criticism of his recent moves has led Saied to double down on his rhetoric about alleged foreign intervention, with people who defend migrants’ rights accused of working for foreign powers. The European Union, which pledged funding to Tunisia last year, should finally put human rights first in its dealings with the regime.

Tunisia’s authoritarian president Kais Saied is escalating his twin crackdown on civic freedoms and migrants’ rights.

A presidential election is due in October and Saied will run again. Given how stringently he’s consolidated power since dismissing the government in 2021 and rewriting the constitution in 2022, there’s little prospect of him being unseated. But what’s underway looks like an effort to eliminate as much scrutiny and dissent as possible ahead of the vote, and to identify some enemies for his campaign to focus on.

The authorities have launched a new wave of arrests, detaining anyone who dares criticise Saied’s regime. Journalist Borhen Bsaies and political commentator Mourad Zeghidi have just been sentenced to a year in prison for defamation and spreading ‘false news’. Bsaies’s real crime was to host a radio show where people criticised Saied, while Zeghidi committed the offence of voicing support for a detained journalist. The two were arrested earlier in the month; injustice moves quickly in Saied’s Tunisia.

Among others recently arrested are two lawyers, taken in raids on the headquarters of the bar association, something governments previously considered taboo. This prompted thousands of lawyers to protest and call a strike.

These arrests are just the latest. In recent years numerous civil society activists, journalists, labour leaders, opposition politicians and judges have been thrown behind bars.

Dangerous new law on the cards

On top of the latest wave of criminalisation, a draft law threatens to give the state sweeping powers over civil society organisations, including over their registration, activities and funding.

Among other things, the law would give the state the power to deny registration and punish organisations if they don’t meet a number of broadly stated requirements such as respecting national principles and laws on morality. Organisations would have to get prior approval to receive foreign funding. The requirements would be even stricter for international civil society organisations.

It’s clear the aim is to restrict civil society. The law would replace a 2011 decree, passed after the Jasmine Revolution that ousted long-time dictator Ben Ali, which enabled over 25,000 civil society groups to spring to life. Now many could be forced to close.

Racist crackdown

Those campaigning for the rights of Black Africans are also in the crosshairs of the crackdown. At least five activists from civil society organisations defending migrants’ rights and campaigning for racial justice have recently been arrested. Among them is Saadia Mosbah, head of the anti-racism organisation Mnemty, who’s being held on money laundering charges. Other detainees include the leaders of the Tunisian Refugee Council, which works closely with the United Nations (UN) Refugee Agency.

Arrests were preceded by a vicious campaign of vilification, coming from the top and spread through social media. Saied has called the heads of organisations that work with migrants ‘traitors’ and ‘mercenaries’, claiming they’re receiving foreign funding to help migrants settle in Tunisia.

The scale of the repression is such that the international community is finally taking notice.

Tunisia is home to an estimated 17,000 refugees and asylum seekers. The highest number come from Sudan, forced on the move by a deadly civil war between military and militia. Since last year, Saied has been mobilising hostility against Black Africans – both recent arrivals and those who’ve been in Tunisia for a long time – as a way of distracting from a flailing economy and justifying his attacks on freedoms. In 2023, he blamed migrants for crime and violence and spread conspiracy theories about them being part of an alleged plot to undermine the country.

This vilification enabled organised violence against Black Africans. In July 2023, the government rounded up hundreds of people, including children and pregnant women, and dumped them at Tunisia’s borders with Algeria and Libya. At the Algerian border, people were left in the desert in temperatures of over 40 degrees. At the Libyan border, they were exposed to danger in a militarised zone. Some reportedly died and others were subjected to sexual violence.

The rhetoric from the top also gave the green light for groups of locals to carry out violent attacks. This month, security forces violently raided camps where Black Africans live, and again moved hundreds to dangerous border areas.

By punching down and blaming Black Africans and civil society for all of Tunisia’s problems, Saied continues to court public popularity. That’s the way of populist demagogues everywhere: to encourage struggling people to blame others for their troubles.

International response

The scale of the repression is such that the international community is finally taking notice. The latest wave of arrests has prompted expressions of concern from the European Union (EU) and the US government, which have generally avoided criticising Saied. Last year, UN human rights chief Volker Türk criticised the use of vaguely worded and broad laws on cybercrime, security and counter-terrorism to criminalise journalists. The UN’s Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination warned the Tunisian authorities to stop using racist hate speech.

Saied hasn’t taken the criticism well. In response to the latest expressions of concern, he ordered several ambassadors to be summoned to the foreign ministry for a telling off. He also insisted the offences that people were arrested for were in accordance with the law – but most of the recent arrests were made under a decree on ‘false news’, Decree 54, which Saied introduced when he gave himself untrammelled power to make laws.

Saied has accused those who’ve criticised the arrests of foreign interference. The new draft law on civil society, with its focus on foreign funding and international organisations, also plays to the growing use of the tactic, favoured by dictators everywhere, of portraying any criticism as being instigated from abroad.

Saied’s smear tactics continue to play well with some. Recently, hundreds gathered in the capital Tunis in Saied’s support, echoing his rhetoric by protesting against foreign interference and ‘traitors’.

Time for action

Saied’s latest repressive actions and his hostile response to legitimate criticism should leave him facing international isolation.

But it remains to be seen whether the EU follows its expressions of concern with tangible action. The two signed an agreement last year that could see the EU provide around US$1 billion in various forms of support, including around US$114 million for migration control. The deal contained no measures to protect the rights of migrants and asylum seekers and no means of suspending cooperation in the event of human rights violations. Saied subsequently showed his contempt for the EU by refusing entry to a group from the European Parliament that wanted to meet with civil society.

The EU has remained largely silent as Saied has dismantled Tunisia’s democracy. It consistently prioritises border control over human rights concerns. Its deal with Tunisia is one of several it’s reached with African states with the aim of stopping people crossing into EU territory. It also recently signed a huge and high-profile agreement with authoritarian Egypt.

The EU should stop making deals with dictators. It claims to stand for democracy, human rights and international law. And yet the very people trying to live and realise these values in Tunisia are the ones being thrown into jail. It must now follow up its criticism with action, starting with an urgent review of its Tunisia deal.

OUR CALLS FOR ACTION

  • The government of Tunisia must immediately release all those imprisoned for criticising the government and seeking to hold it to account.
  • The Tunisian government must cease its attacks on migrants, refugees and Black Africans and commit to upholding their fundamental human rights.
  • The EU must urgently review its agreement with Tunisia and improve its monitoring and protection of human rights.

For interviews or more information, please contact research@civicus.org

Cover photo by Chedly Ben Ibrahim/NurPhoto via Getty Images