Tunisian rights activist sentenced to 25 years in prison

TUNIS: Prominent Tunisian rights activist Sihem Bensedrine told AFP on Friday that she had been sentenced to 25 years in prison on charges including falsifying part of a transitional justice commission’s final report.
Tunisia emerged from the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011 as a beacon of democratic hope for the region after decades of authoritarianism, but rights groups have reported backsliding under President Kais Saied.
“Of course, this is a decision that has nothing to do with justice. It has to do with a totalitarian regime that wants to erase the legacy of the IVD,” Bensedrine said, referring to the Truth and Dignity Commission of which she was president.
Bensedrine, 75, said she would lodge an appeal.
The now-defunct IVD, set up after the 2011 revolution ousted longtime ruler Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, heard testimony from thousands of his victims and those of his predecessor Habib Bourguiba.
Prosecutors accused Bensedrine of falsifying the commission’s final report, published in 2020.
Bensedrine said she had been targeted by “officials who are holding the state hostage” in order to “settle scores” and “discredit our work.”
The Paris-headquartered International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) has said the charges against Bensedrine were “groundless.”
The FIDH also said her prosecution raised “serious concerns,” noting the law provides that commission members are not to be held accountable for the contents of its reports.
The commission’s final report called for “dismantling a system of corruption, repression and dictatorship” within state institutions.