Three Tunisian experts arrested for critical statements: lawyers

Sonia Dahmani, also a lawyer, was arrested late Saturday after criticizing the situation in Tunisia on television, her lawyer Dalila Msaddek said in a post on Facebook.

Msaddek said there had been a “police attack on the Bar Association’s headquarters” in Tunis, with “lawyers attacked and colleague Sonia Dahmani abducted to an unknown location.”

On the same evening, television and radio presenter Borhen Bssais and political commentator Mourad Zeghidi were arrested for making critical statements, lawyer Ghazi Mrabet told AFP.

Mrabet said that the judiciary had issued a “48-hour arrest warrant” against the couple on Sunday and that they must be brought before an investigating judge.

According to Mrabet, Zeghidi was “persecuted for a social media post in which he supported an arrested journalist,” referring to Mohamed Boughalleb, who was sentenced to six months in prison for defamation of a public official and “statements made” during television broadcasts since February”.

The exact reason for Bssais’ arrest remains unclear, but according to Mrabet, he was arrested under Decree 54, which criminalizes the production and dissemination of “fake news.”

The law, signed by President Kais Saied in September 2022, has been criticized by journalists and opposition figures who claim it has been misused to suppress dissent.

According to Tunisia’s National Association of Journalists, more than 60 journalists, lawyers and opposition figures have been prosecuted since the decree came into force.

Dahmani was also arrested under Decree 54, Tunisian media reported, saying she was arrested while seeking protection at the bar association.

The event was filmed live by news channel France 24, which said it was forced to stop broadcasting by masked police officers.

The broadcaster said officers “ripped the camera from its tripod” and briefly detained its cameraman.

It condemned a “brutal intervention by security forces that prevented journalists from practicing their profession as they covered a lawyers’ protest for justice and in support of freedom of expression.”

The bar association condemned what it called an “invasion of its headquarters and blatant aggression,” called for Dahmani’s immediate release and announced a regional strike starting Monday.

Msaddek said Dahmani was summoned to court on Friday to explain her remarks but refused to appear. A court then issued an arrest warrant ordering law enforcement to bring Dahmani before the investigating judge.

Islam Hamza, another lawyer on Dahmani’s defense team, confirmed to AFP that she had been arrested.

Dahmani told reporters before her arrest that she had refused to appear “without knowing the reasons for this summons.”

During a broadcast on the Carthage Plus television channel on Tuesday, she responded to another expert’s claim that sub-Saharan migrants were trying to settle in Tunisia.

“What extraordinary country are we talking about?” she asked sarcastically, sparking angry reactions from some Tunisian social media users.

The North African country is a key departure point for thousands of migrants who risk the dangerous crossing across the Mediterranean every year in the hope of a better life in Europe.

But the situation of sub-Saharan African migrants in Tunisia has worsened, particularly after a speech by Saied last year in which he portrayed “hordes of illegal migrants” as a demographic threat.

On Monday, Saadia Mosbah, head of the anti-racism association Mnemty, was taken into custody and investigated for money laundering, Tunisian media said.

Her arrest came just hours after Saied sharply criticized organizations that defend the rights of migrants at a meeting of the National Security Council, calling their leaders “traitors and mercenaries.”

The president reiterated that Tunisia should not become a “transit country” for migrants and asylum seekers.

Tunisian authorities have searched several camps in recent weeks, tearing down tents and expelling migrants.

Saied was elected president in 2019 but has ruled by decree since his sweeping seizure of power in July 2021.

A demonstration on Sunday in Tunis organized by the opposition National Salvation Front coalition to demand “free and fair elections” by the end of the year drew a crowd of around 300 people, AFP correspondents reported.

The protesters chanted “Stop the police state” and “Down, down with Kais Saied,” the correspondents said.

ayj-fka/ami/dcp