Tunisia’s civil society faces growing pressure as crackdown widens

Tunis, Tunisia – Tunisia’s authorities person sharply intensified unit connected civilian society, prosecuting activists and NGO workers, investigating groups’ finances and suspending dozens of associations successful a run that Human Rights Watch says has severely narrowed the civic abstraction that emerged aft the 2011 revolution.

In a 49-page study released connected Wednesday, the rights radical documented what it described arsenic escalating repression of section and planetary civilian nine organisations, their workers and affiliates done arrests, lengthy preventive detention, transgression and fiscal investigations, wide suspensions and threats of dissolution.

Human Rights Watch said authorities person prosecuted astatine slightest 47 radical connected to nongovernmental organisations and held astatine slightest 10 radical successful preventive detention for longer than 14 months, exceeding the maximum play permitted nether Tunisian law.

After trials successful 2025 and 2026, astatine slightest 14 radical connected to civilian nine person been convicted and sentenced to prison, the rights radical said.

Among them is salient quality rights defender Saadia Mosbah, who was sentenced to 8 years successful situation and a dense good connected fiscal transgression charges connected March 19, according to the report.

Five employees of organisations assisting asylum seekers person besides been convicted connected charges linked to their enactment and the mandates of their legally registered associations, Human Rights Watch said. The organisations person since ceased their activities.

How has the unit widened?

The crackdown has extended beyond idiosyncratic activists to organisations moving connected immoderate of the country’s astir politically delicate issues, peculiarly migration.

From May to December 2024, authorities arrested respective workers astatine groups providing assistance to refugees, asylum seekers and migrants arsenic good arsenic radical moving to combat racism and discrimination, according to Human Rights Watch.

The arrests were made erstwhile tensions were heightened implicit the attraction of sub-Saharan Africans successful Tunisia.

In February 2023, President Kais Saied said the beingness of sub-Saharan refugees and migrants was portion of a “criminal plan” to alteration Tunisia’s demographic creation and described it arsenic a signifier of “occupation”.

Human Rights Watch said authorities person utilized laws criminalising assistance to foreigners with irregular migration presumption and Tunisia’s 2015 “counterterrorism” and money-laundering instrumentality to bring what the rights radical described arsenic abusive charges against quality rights defenders and workers astatine NGOs.

The unit has besides taken a fiscal form.

At the extremity of 2024, soon earlier the statesmanlike election, the Tax Evasion Investigation and Prevention Brigade notified astatine slightest a twelve associations, including Amnesty International’s determination bureau and the anticorruption radical I Watch, that they were nether investigation, according to Human Rights Watch.

The investigations created an administrative and operational load and resulted successful the freezing of astatine slightest 2 associations’ slope accounts, the rights radical said.

Private banks person besides imposed restrictions connected immoderate associations, including revoking their entree to hard currency oregon convertible dinar accounts, blocking oregon returning overseas funds sent to Tunisian accounts, oregon closing their accounts.

Human Rights Watch said the wide usage of specified investigations raised concerns that the authorities were utilizing fiscal and transgression procedures to intimidate civilian nine organisations.

Why are associations being suspended?

Authorities person besides moved against organisations collectively.

From July to October 2025 and again from April to May this year, authorities utilized Decree-Law 2011-88 connected associations to suspend organisations, Human Rights Watch said.

The rights radical identified astatine slightest 20 suspended civilian nine associations portion noting that the nonstop fig could not beryllium established without authoritative data.

Human Rights Watch said the suspensions were marked by procedural irregularities. Some associations did not person the ceremonial warnings required nether Tunisian instrumentality portion others tried to respond but received nary reply.

Lawyers supporting suspended organisations told the rights radical that officials had dismissed appeals from astir 30 associations.

The groups look a superior hazard of dissolution erstwhile each avenues of entreaty person been exhausted, Human Rights Watch said.

Al Khatt, which publishes the autarkic online mag Inkyfada, and the antiracism organisation Mnemty are presently facing dissolution proceedings, according to the report.

The judiciary, which orders the suspensions, has been nether the power of the enforcement since 2022 erstwhile Saied took expansive measures that Human Rights Watch said undermined judicial independence.

Associations person besides reported being denied accreditation to observe elections, facing tighter restrictions connected entree to prisons and detention facilities, and having nationalist events banned, according to Human Rights Watch.

Is the unit changing however radical speak?

For activists, the interaction is progressively felt earlier authorities instrumentality action: successful decisions astir whether to speak, organise oregon enactment publically astatine all.

Rabie Kacem, a subordinate of the Nafas civic collective, said the concerns raised by Human Rights Watch reflected what activists person been experiencing.

“Today, an activistic oregon anyone funny successful nationalist affairs successful Tunisia thinks doubly earlier speaking, penning oregon organising an activity,” Kacem said.

“We are talking astir an situation wherever civic and quality rights enactment itself has go linked to the anticipation of being prosecuted, defamed oregon pressured.”

Tunisians protestation successful Tunis arsenic nationalist vexation grows implicit economical hardships and civilian nine groups look mounting unit from authorities [Ons Abid/AP]

The unit has besides affected journalists documenting events.

Noureddine Ahmed, a photojournalist and president of the photojournalists committee wrong Tunisia’s National Journalists Union, said restrictions connected journalists had go much pronounced implicit the past 5 years.

Journalists progressively person been stopped portion moving successful the streets, asked to amusement nonrecreational recognition oregon get permits earlier speaking to citizens, and sometimes taken to constabulary stations for questioning, helium said. In immoderate cases, helium said, journalists person had their instrumentality damaged oregon confiscated.

Reporting connected migration has go peculiarly sensitive, Ahmed said, and immoderate overseas media organisations person go much reluctant to enactment with Tunisian journalists connected migration and governmental stories.

He said monitoring of journalists’ societal media enactment and constricted entree to accusation had contributed to a wider clime of fear.

Ahmed estimated that the fig of photojournalists has fallen by astir fractional arsenic immoderate mislaid enactment and immoderate overseas media organisations became little consenting to instrumentality work for section correspondents amid the hazard of apprehension oregon prosecution.

“There is nary state of the property successful Tunisia now,” Ahmed said.

Wissem Sghaier, spokesperson for Al-Jomhouri Party, said the prosecutions were portion of a broader situation involving the equilibrium of powers, judicial independency and state of expression.

He said the attraction of governmental decision-making successful the hands of Saied has weakened the separation of powers and allowed authorities institutions to beryllium utilized to enforce governmental decisions.

“When determination is an situation characterised by attacks connected freedoms, arrests, persecution and targeting each antithetic voice, it is mean that immoderate voices bash not privation to enactment themselves successful prison,” helium told Al Jazeera.

What changed aft the 2011 revolution?

The unit is peculiarly important successful a state wherever civilian nine expanded dramatically aft the 2011 uprising that ended the regularisation of longtime President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

Associations, rights groups and autarkic organisations became an important portion of Tunisia’s governmental and societal landscape, documenting abuses, assisting susceptible communities and providing citizens with caller ways to situation authorities.

That abstraction narrowed sharply aft Saied took sweeping governmental measures successful July 2021, suspending parliament, dismissing the authorities and opening to regularisation by decree.

Since 2022, Saied has publically portrayed civilian nine and NGOs arsenic a menace to nationalist sovereignty, Human Rights Watch said.

Saied and his authorities person defended his governmental measures arsenic indispensable to combat corruption and support Tunisia from what they picture arsenic conspiracies and attempts to destabilise the country.

Human Rights Watch, however, said the authorities person progressively utilized ineligible and administrative measures to restrict autarkic organisations and their members.

What happens next?

Human Rights Watch said the Tunisian authorities person repeatedly sought to regenerate oregon tighten the ineligible model governing associations.

Two draught laws, 1 leaked successful aboriginal 2022 and different submitted to parliament successful October 2023, would springiness the authorities important power implicit the establishment, activities, operations and backing of autarkic organisations, according to the rights group.

It called connected Tunisian authorities to extremity abusive investigations, judicial harassment and what it described arsenic the criminalisation of morganatic civilian nine work.

The organisation besides called for the merchandise of NGO workers, activists and quality rights defenders it considers arbitrarily detained successful transportation with their morganatic enactment and for convictions it considers unjust to beryllium overturned.

It urged parliament to retreat authorities that would undermine state of relation and called connected the European Union and its subordinate states to property Tunisia to extremity the crackdown.

Tunisia is enactment to the International Covenant connected Civil and Political Rights and the African Charter connected Human and Peoples’ Rights, which support the freedoms of association, assembly and look arsenic good arsenic safeguards against arbitrary apprehension and detention and guarantees of a just trial.

“By dismantling the abstraction for civilian society, the authorities are trying to guarantee nary 1 is near to clasp them accountable,” said Bassam Khawaja, Human Rights Watch’s lawman Middle East and North Africa director.

“The planetary assemblage needs to instrumentality urgent enactment to assistance sphere what remains of civic abstraction successful Tunisia, guarantee protections for rights defenders and extremity this drastic backsliding connected quality rights.”