Tunisian authorities have stepped up their clampdown on the rights to freedom of expression and association ahead of the presidential elections on 6 October 2024, said Amnesty International, escalating their harassment of political opponents, restricting the work of journalists, human rights defenders and NGOS and taking steps to further undermine judicial independence.

In the latest escalation at least 97 members of opposition group Ennahda were arrested between 12 and 13 September.  Those detained were denied access to their lawyers for 48 hours and were brought before the anti-terrorism brigade for questioning. They are being investigated for conspiracy charges and other charges under the counter-terrorism law. 

Authorities have continued to arbitrarily detain opposition politicians and human rights defenders, sideline presidential candidates and disregard administrative court decisions to reinstate presidential candidates, while the criminal justice system has been weaponized to silence peaceful dissent.

“Tunisian authorities are waging a clear pre-election assault on the pillars of human rights and the rule of law, failing to uphold the country’s international human rights obligations and undermining the fundamental principles of justice and fairness. They must end this egregious backslide on human rights and ensure respect for the rights of everyone in the country before, during and after the forthcoming elections,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.

“As a first step, Tunisian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release those detained solely for peacefully exercising their human rights, including Ennahda party members and imprisoned human rights defenders. They must allow media and civil society organizations to freely carry out their legitimate activities without fear of reprisal and end all interference in the judiciary.”

Undermining the judiciary and rule of law

The Independent High Authority for Elections (ISIE), the institution in charge of organizing elections since 2011, but whose members have been nominated by President Kais Saied directly since 2022, approved only three candidates for the presidential elections including the incumbent Kais Saied. Several of the candidates that were not approved challenged the decision with the administrative court, which has exclusive jurisdiction over disputes regarding electoral candidacy. Three of them, all opposition candidates, Imed Daimi, Mondher Znaidi and Abdellatif Al Mekki won their appeal and the court ruled to reinstate them as candidates. However the ISIE on 1 September rejected the binding court ruling and refused to implement it.

The decision of the ISIE to disregard the court ruling was widely criticized by civil society organizations, political parties and the legal community as it is undermines the independence of the judiciary and rule of law.

Harassment of political opponents

On 1 September, Tunisian authorities arrested Ayachi Zammel, one of the candidates initially approved by ISIE, and charged him with “making donations to influence voters” under Article 161 of the electoral law following claims that he paid for endorsements for his candidacy. On 5 September, the court ordered his provisional release, but he was re-arrested as he was about to leave prison later that day. He was taken to Jendouba, a region in the northwest of Tunisia, where he was investigated and put under a new pre-detention warrant following similar accusations. Since then, more complaints have been brought against him and he is now held under five pre-trial detention orders all related to the same accusations.

Other politicians who submitted their candidacies for the presidential race and were not approved by the ISIE continue to face judicial harassment and in some cases prosecutions that lead to their convictions. On 5 August, a Tunis Court of First Instance sentenced five prospective presidential candidates to eight months in prison and a lifetime ban on running for office on the charge of “making donations to influence voters.” On 8 September, the Tunis Court of appeals confirmed the conviction and sentence for two of them, Abdellatif El Mekki and Nizar Chaari.

Stifling criticism and media freedom

The ISIE has been attempting to restrict independent media coverage of the elections. According to the Journalists Union, four private radio stations have received written warning notices from the ISIE about reports and comments aired on their stations in relation to the electoral process since the end of July. The latest was a warning received by Express FM on 6 September about what a guest on a show had said about the elections.

Radio Mosaïque FM received two warning notices from ISIE. On 31 July 2024, ISIE sent a warning notice, which was reviewed by Amnesty International, claiming that comments made by journalists Kaouther Zantour and Assya Atrous on the “Midi Show” on 24 July constituted “insult and mockery” of the ISIE and the electoral process. According to the station, a first warning had already been addressed to them on 26 July about the same subject.

On 20 August 2024, independent journalist Khaoula Boukrim, founder of online media site Tumedia, shared an e-mail that she had received from the ISIE accreditation unit. It informed her that her accreditation had been revoked, which set a new precedent. ISIE’s pretext for revoking Boukrim’s accreditation was that she violated “her duty to ensure a media coverage that is objective, balanced and neutral in regard to the electoral process” and that she had not respected the code of ethics in this regard.

“It is not ISIE’s role to police the work of the media. Accreditations granted to journalists and observers are meant to facilitate access throughout the different stages of elections and not exercise control over coverage of the elections and restrict media freedom,” said Agnès Callamard.

The ISIE also filed several criminal complaints against political opposition members and critics which led to convictions and sentences under Decree Law 54 for “spreading false information.” This includes opposition party president Abir Moussi, who was sentenced to two years in prison in one case and is facing charges in two other cases brought against her by the ISIE.

In a separate development, the magazine Jeune Afrique said on 4 September that Tunisian authorities banned its September issue from being distributed in Tunisia, presumably due to an article criticizing President Kais Saied, entitled “The Hyper President”.

Restricting the work of monitoring groups

The ISIE denied requests for accreditation made by the anti-corruption NGO IWatch and the observation NGO Mourakiboun, two Tunisian organizations that have been monitoring the elections since 2014.

According to the ISIE, “authorities” notified them that the two NGOs received “suspicious foreign funding,” later adding that they had received funding from “states with which Tunisia did not have diplomatic relations.” The ISIE referred these NGOs to for investigation by the prosecution.

According to international human rights standards, associations must have the freedom to seek and receive funding from various sources, both domestic and international, without undue restrictions.

“It is a travesty to witness the erosion of state institutions that were built since 2011. The Independent High Authority for Elections and all state institutions must uphold and respect the rule of law and not become tools to impose restrictions on the work of independent civil society organizations,” said Agnès Callamard.

Background

Since 2022, authorities have carried out successive waves of arrests targeting political opponents and perceived critics of President Saied. Over 70 people, including political opponents, lawyers, journalists, human rights defenders and activists have been subjected to arbitrary detention and/or prosecution since the end of 2022. Tens remain in arbitrary detention in connection with the exercise of their internationally guaranteed rights such as the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association.