President Kais Saied staged a sweeping power grab, and critics and rights groups have since warned of a rollback in freedoms [GETTY]
The United Nations human rights chief on Tuesday denounced the “persecution of political opponents” in Tunisia, urging the authorities to halt the wave of arrests and arbitrary detentions.
President Kais Saied was democratically elected in 2019 after Tunisia emerged as the only democracy from the Arab Spring.
However, in 2021, he staged a sweeping power grab, and critics and rights groups have since warned of a rollback in freedoms.
“UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk calls on the Tunisian authorities to cease all forms of persecution of political opponents,” spokesman Thameen Al-Kheetan told a press briefing.
“He also appeals for the immediate release, on compassionate grounds, of those who are of an advanced age and those who suffer from health problems.”
Kheetan said the Tunisian authorities “must bring an end to the pattern of arrests, arbitrary detentions and imprisonment of dozens of human rights defenders, lawyers, journalists, activists and politicians”.
He said many of them were being held in pre-trial detention, “facing broad and vague accusations apparently following the exercise of their rights and freedoms”.
Earlier this month, a Tunisian court handed a lengthy new prison term to Rached Ghannouchi, the jailed head of the country’s leading opposition party and once Saied’s main rival.
The court also issued sentences for several other figures from his Ennahdha Islamist-inspired party, including members of his family, as well as journalists working for a digital content production firm called Instalingo.
The firm has been under scrutiny since Saied’s power grab.
Kheetan said the Court of First Instance handed down prison sentences ranging from five to 54 years to 41 individuals in the Instalingo case. Politicians, journalists, and bloggers were among those convicted.
He said the trial was “marred by alleged violations of fair trial and due process”.
Turk’s office said Tunisia should review its criminal legislation to ensure it is in line with international human rights law norms and standards.
