Over the weekend, demonstrators took to the streets of Tunis to protest the imprisonment of opposition figures who have been arrested as part of a wide-reaching crackdown against critics of President Said’s regime.
Since February, numerous public figures have been arrested, including politicians, activists, lawyers, judges and a prominent journalist.
A little more than a decade ago Tunisia was a beacon for activists across the region that a brighter, fairer future might be possible. Just twelve years later, that hope is fading fast. Many of the hard-won democratic foundations, laid following Tunisia’s Jasmine Revolution, are now being systematically ripped up and discarded.
In 2021, President Said dissolved Parliament and announced he was taking over control of public prosecutions. Since then, with almost unfettered power, he has imprisoned numerous critics, dismantled the judiciary, and, most recently, fanned the flames of anti-immigrant violence.
“Tunisia’s continued autocratic consolidation” has alarmed US lawmakers to such an extent they recently wrote to the Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, to request that any US foreign aid “supports the restoration of inclusive, democratic governance and rule of law.”
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Tunisia is a party, protects the rights to freedom of opinion, expression, association, and assembly. Tunisia is also bound under the ICCPR and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights to respect the right to a fair trial.
If President Said won’t respect international law and release the political prisoners, then it is imperative that international governments pressure him to do so.
Tunisia was the spark that ignited the Arab Spring, and to see it backsliding towards authoritarianism should set the alarm bells ringing.