TUNIS: Tunisian authorities have used arbitrary detention as a key tool of repression, jailing dozens of critics on politically motivated charges in a sweeping crackdown on dissent, Human Rights Watch said Wednesday.
In a new report, HRW said the North African country has seen an “increased reliance on arbitrary detention and politically motivated prosecutions to intimidate, punish and silence its critics.”
The organization said several critics have been “detained on abusive charges, including terrorism” over political activities and public statements.
“Over 50 people were being held on political grounds or for exercising their rights as of January 2025,” it said.
“At least 14 detainees could face capital punishment if convicted,” it added.
This comes amid an ongoing trial in Tunisia involving around 40 high-profile defendants, some outspoken critics of President Kais Saied, facing charges including plotting against the state.
Several were arrested in February 2023, after which Saied labelled them “terrorists.”
Elected in 2019 after Tunisia emerged as the Arab Spring’s sole democratic success, the president staged a sweeping power grab in 2021.
Since then, rights groups have warned of a rollback of freedoms.
“Not since the 2011 revolution have Tunisian authorities unleashed such repression,” said Bassam Khawaja, HRW’s deputy Middle East and North Africa director.
“President Saied’s government has returned the country to an era of political prisoners,” he added.
The United Nations recently urged Tunisian authorities to bring “an end to the pattern of arrests, arbitrary detentions and imprisonment of dozens of human rights defenders, lawyers, journalists, activists and politicians.”