TUNIS: Aid workers accused of assisting irregular migration to Tunisia went on trial on Monday, as Amnesty International criticized what it called “the relentless criminalization of civil society” in the country.
Six staff members of the Tunisian branch of the France Terre d’Asile aid group, along with 17 municipal workers from the eastern city of Sousse, face charges of sheltering migrants and facilitating their “illegal entry and residence.”
If convicted, they face up to 10 years in prison.
Migration is a sensitive issue in Tunisia, a key transit point for tens of thousands of people seeking to reach Europe each year.
A former head of Terre d’Asile Tunisie, Sherifa Riahi, is among the accused and has been detained for more than 19 months, according to her lawyer Abdellah Ben Meftah.
He told AFP that the accused had carried out their work as part of a project approved by the state and in “direct coordination” with the government.
Amnesty denounced what it described as a “bogus criminal trial” and called on Tunisian authorities to drop the charges.
“They are being prosecuted simply for their legitimate work providing vital assistance and protection to refugees, asylum seekers and migrants in precarious situations,” Sara Hashash, Amnesty’s deputy MENA chief, said in the statement.
The defendants were arrested in May 2024 along with about a dozen humanitarian workers, including anti-racism pioneer Saadia Mosbah, whose trial is set to start later this month.
In February 2023, President Kais Saied said “hordes of illegal migrants,” many from sub-Saharan Africa, posed a demographic threat to the Arab-majority country.
His speech triggered a series of racially motivated attacks as thousands of sub-Saharan African migrants in Tunisia were pushed out of their homes and jobs.
Thousands were repatriated or attempted to cross the Mediterranean, while others were expelled to the desert borders with Algeria and Libya, where at least a hundred died that summer.
This came as the European Union boosted efforts to curb arrivals on its southern shores, including a 255-million-euro ($290-million) deal with Tunis.
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Trial opens in Tunisia of NGO workers accused of aiding migrants
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Trial opens in Tunisia of NGO workers accused of aiding migrants
- Aid workers accused of assisting irregular migration to Tunisia went on trial on Monday, as Amnesty International criticized what it called “the relentless criminalization of civil society”
Lebanon’s Berri says parliamentary election must be held on time
BEIRUT: Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said on Friday he was committed to holding a parliamentary election as scheduled on May 10, despite calls from some politicians to postpone the vote.
Several politicians have called for a delay, citing security concerns in southern Lebanon, where Israel has carried out air strikes targeting Hezbollah.
Berri, a Shiite leader allied with Hezbollah, said in a statement carried by the state-run National News Agency that he had informed President Joseph Aoun and the government of his position.
“It is not permissible that, at the start of a new era, we obstruct its launch by disrupting, postponing or extending the most important constitutional entitlement, which is the foundation for forming authorities and producing political life,” Berri said.
Berri has opened the candidacy registry for the election and submitted the first nomination request for the Tyre-Zahrani district in southern Lebanon.
Lebanon last held a parliamentary election in May 2022, a vote marked by low turnout and deep public anger over a financial collapse. The election saw some gains by reformist candidates emerging from the 2019 protest movement, while the Iran-backed Hezbollah and its allies lost their parliamentary majority. (Reporting by Laila Bassam; Writing by Tala Ramadan; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
Several politicians have called for a delay, citing security concerns in southern Lebanon, where Israel has carried out air strikes targeting Hezbollah.
Berri, a Shiite leader allied with Hezbollah, said in a statement carried by the state-run National News Agency that he had informed President Joseph Aoun and the government of his position.
“It is not permissible that, at the start of a new era, we obstruct its launch by disrupting, postponing or extending the most important constitutional entitlement, which is the foundation for forming authorities and producing political life,” Berri said.
Berri has opened the candidacy registry for the election and submitted the first nomination request for the Tyre-Zahrani district in southern Lebanon.
Lebanon last held a parliamentary election in May 2022, a vote marked by low turnout and deep public anger over a financial collapse. The election saw some gains by reformist candidates emerging from the 2019 protest movement, while the Iran-backed Hezbollah and its allies lost their parliamentary majority. (Reporting by Laila Bassam; Writing by Tala Ramadan; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
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