PARIS: A French student detained for weeks in Tunisia returned to Paris on Friday after weeks of top-level diplomatic discussions.
Victor Dupont, a 27-year-old completing a Ph.D. at Aix-Marseille University’s Institute of Research and Study on the Arab and Islamic Worlds, arrived at Charles de Gaulle Airport on Friday afternoon, 27 days after he was arrested in Tunis.
“Obviously, we welcome this outcome for him and, most of all, we welcome that he is able to reunite with his loved ones here in France,” French Foreign Ministry spokesman Christophe Lemoine said.
He announced the release at a ministry news briefing on Friday, saying that Dupont was freed Tuesday from prison and returned on Friday back to France.
Dupont, who researches social movements, youth unemployment and Tunisia’s 2011 revolution, was one of three French nationals arrested on Oct. 19. Authorities in recent years have arrested journalists, activists and opposition figures, but Dupont’s arrest garnered international attention and condemnation because of his nationality and because he wasn’t known as a critic of the government.
A support committee set up to advocate for Dupont’s release told The Associated Press in October that Dupont and several friends were detained in front of Dupont’s home, then taken to a police station for questioning. Dupont was later taken alone into custody and taken to appear in military court in the city of Le Kef.
The arrest provoked concerns about the safety and security of foreigners in Tunisia, where rights and freedoms have gradually been curtailed under President Kais Saied.
Dupont’s supporters, both at his university and in associations representing academics who work in the Middle East and North Africa, said that his research didn’t pose any security risks and called the charges unfounded.
In a letter to Saied and Tunisia’s Ministry of Higher Educations, associations representing French, Italian and British academics who work in the region said that Tunisia’s government had approved Dupont’s research and that the allegations against him “lack both founding and credibility.”
“We therefore condemn the extraordinary use of the military court system,” they wrote on Nov. 12.
Saied has harnessed populist anger to win two terms as president of Tunisia and reversed many of the gains that were made when the country became the first to topple a longtime dictator in 2011 during the regional uprisings that became known as the Arab Spring.
Tunisia and France have maintained close political and economic ties since Tunisia became independent after 75 years of being a French protectorate. France is Tunisia’s top trade partner, home to a large Tunisian diaspora and a key interlocutor in managing migration from North Africa to Europe.
A French diplomatic official not authorized to speak publicly about the arrest told The Associated Press in late October that officials were in contact with Tunisian authorities about the case. Another diplomatic official with knowledge of the matter said on Thursday that French President Emmanuel Macron had recently spoken to Saied twice about the case and said that it was the subject of regular calls between top level diplomats.
The others arrested along with Dupont were previously released.
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A French student who was arrested and detained in Tunisia returns to Paris
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A French student who was arrested and detained in Tunisia returns to Paris
- Victor Dupont, a Ph.D. at Aix-Marseille University’s Institute of Research and Study on the Arab and Islamic Worlds, arrived at Charles de Gaulle Airport on Friday
- Dupont, who researches social movements, youth unemployment and Tunisia’s 2011 revolution, was one of three French nationals arrested on Oct. 19
Hamas to elect first leader since Sinwar killed by Israel
- Role left vacant since Israel killed Yahya Sinwar in 2024
- Khalil Al-Hayya and Khaled Meshaal are seen as frontrunners
CAIRO: Hamas is expected to elect a new leader this month, two sources in the group told Reuters, filling the role left vacant since Israel killed Yahya Sinwar in 2024 despite concerns that a successor could suffer the same fate.
Khalil Al-Hayya and Khaled Meshaal are seen as frontrunners for the helm at a vital moment for the militant Islamist group, battered by two years of war ignited by its October 7, 2023 attack on Israel and facing international demands to disarm.
Both men reside in Qatar and sit on a five-man council that has run Hamas since Israel killed Sinwar, a mastermind of the October 7 attack. His predecessor, Ismail Haniyeh, was assassinated by Israel while on a visit to Iran in 2024.
The election process has already begun, the sources said. The leader is chosen in a secret ballot by Hamas’ Shoura Council, a 50-member body that includes Hamas members in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and exile.
A Hamas spokesperson declined to comment.
Tough challenges
The sources said a deputy leader will also be elected to replace Saleh Al-Arouri, who was killed by an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon in 2024.
Sources close to Hamas said it was determined to conclude the vote, though some preferred an extension of collective leadership.
Hamas watchers regard Meshaal as part of a pragmatic wing with good ties to Sunni Muslim countries, and Hayya, the group’s lead negotiator, as part of a camp that deepened its relations with Iran.
Hamas faces some of the toughest challenges since it was founded in 1987. While fighting has largely abated in Gaza since the US-brokered ceasefire in October, Israel still holds almost half the coastal enclave, attacks continue, and conditions for Gaza’s 2 million people remain dire.
Hamas has also drawn criticism within Gaza because of the heavy toll inflicted by the war, with much of the enclave reduced to ruins and more than 71,000 people killed, according to Gaza health authorities.
Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people and abducted 251 others in the October 7 cross-border assault on Israel.
US President Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan for Gaza demands Hamas disarm and foresees the enclave being run by a technocratic Palestinian administration overseen by an international body called the Board of Peace.
Targeted by Israel
Hamas has so far refused to disarm, saying the question of armed resistance is a matter for wider debate among Palestinian factions and that it would be ready to surrender its weapons to a future Palestinian state, an outcome Israel has ruled out.
Hamas is designated as a terrorist organization by Western powers including the United States.
Born in Gaza, Hayya was among Hamas leaders targeted by an Israeli airstrike on Qatar in September.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later expressed regret to the emir of Qatar — a US ally — in a three-way call with Trump and affirmed Israel would not conduct such an attack again in the future, the White House said at the time.
Meshaal previously led Hamas for almost two decades. Israeli agents tried to assassinate him in Jordan in 1997 by injecting him with poison.
His relations with Iran were strained in 2012 when he distanced Hamas from Tehran’s Syrian ally, the now-ousted President Bashar Assad, early in the Arab Spring uprisings.
Hamas was founded as the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood and is the main rival to the Palestinians’ Fatah national movement led by 90-year-old President Mahmoud Abbas.
Hamas’ founding charter called for the destruction of Israel, although its leaders have at times offered a long-term truce with Israel in return for a viable Palestinian state on all Palestinian territory occupied by Israel in the 1967 war.
Israel regards this approach as a ruse.
Analyst Reham Owda said there were limited differences between Hayya and Meshaal over the conflict with Israel but believed Meshaal had better chances as he could “market (Hamas) internationally and help rebuild its capabilities.”
Khalil Al-Hayya and Khaled Meshaal are seen as frontrunners for the helm at a vital moment for the militant Islamist group, battered by two years of war ignited by its October 7, 2023 attack on Israel and facing international demands to disarm.
Both men reside in Qatar and sit on a five-man council that has run Hamas since Israel killed Sinwar, a mastermind of the October 7 attack. His predecessor, Ismail Haniyeh, was assassinated by Israel while on a visit to Iran in 2024.
The election process has already begun, the sources said. The leader is chosen in a secret ballot by Hamas’ Shoura Council, a 50-member body that includes Hamas members in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and exile.
A Hamas spokesperson declined to comment.
Tough challenges
The sources said a deputy leader will also be elected to replace Saleh Al-Arouri, who was killed by an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon in 2024.
Sources close to Hamas said it was determined to conclude the vote, though some preferred an extension of collective leadership.
Hamas watchers regard Meshaal as part of a pragmatic wing with good ties to Sunni Muslim countries, and Hayya, the group’s lead negotiator, as part of a camp that deepened its relations with Iran.
Hamas faces some of the toughest challenges since it was founded in 1987. While fighting has largely abated in Gaza since the US-brokered ceasefire in October, Israel still holds almost half the coastal enclave, attacks continue, and conditions for Gaza’s 2 million people remain dire.
Hamas has also drawn criticism within Gaza because of the heavy toll inflicted by the war, with much of the enclave reduced to ruins and more than 71,000 people killed, according to Gaza health authorities.
Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people and abducted 251 others in the October 7 cross-border assault on Israel.
US President Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan for Gaza demands Hamas disarm and foresees the enclave being run by a technocratic Palestinian administration overseen by an international body called the Board of Peace.
Targeted by Israel
Hamas has so far refused to disarm, saying the question of armed resistance is a matter for wider debate among Palestinian factions and that it would be ready to surrender its weapons to a future Palestinian state, an outcome Israel has ruled out.
Hamas is designated as a terrorist organization by Western powers including the United States.
Born in Gaza, Hayya was among Hamas leaders targeted by an Israeli airstrike on Qatar in September.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later expressed regret to the emir of Qatar — a US ally — in a three-way call with Trump and affirmed Israel would not conduct such an attack again in the future, the White House said at the time.
Meshaal previously led Hamas for almost two decades. Israeli agents tried to assassinate him in Jordan in 1997 by injecting him with poison.
His relations with Iran were strained in 2012 when he distanced Hamas from Tehran’s Syrian ally, the now-ousted President Bashar Assad, early in the Arab Spring uprisings.
Hamas was founded as the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood and is the main rival to the Palestinians’ Fatah national movement led by 90-year-old President Mahmoud Abbas.
Hamas’ founding charter called for the destruction of Israel, although its leaders have at times offered a long-term truce with Israel in return for a viable Palestinian state on all Palestinian territory occupied by Israel in the 1967 war.
Israel regards this approach as a ruse.
Analyst Reham Owda said there were limited differences between Hayya and Meshaal over the conflict with Israel but believed Meshaal had better chances as he could “market (Hamas) internationally and help rebuild its capabilities.”
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