Tunisia: Wave of arrests and repression ahead of October 6 elections

ROMA – The latest escalation of repression in Tunisia has led to the detention of at least 97 members of the opposition group Ennahda between September 12 and 13. The detainees, all charged with conspiracy and other terrorism-related offences, were denied access to lawyers for 48 hours. Authorities continue to arbitrarily detain opposition politicians and human rights defenders; sideline candidates in the October 6 presidential election; and ignore decisions by administrative courts to reinstate them. The criminal justice system in the small North African country – writes Amnesty International – is now a weapon to silence dissent.

Judiciary and the rule of law. The Independent High Authority for Elections (ISIE), the body that has been in charge of organizing elections since 2011 but whose members have been directly appointed by President Kais Saied since 2022, has promoted only three candidates for the upcoming presidential election, including the incumbent president himself. Many of those expelled from the election contested the decision in administrative courts, which have exclusive jurisdiction over disputes relating to the election. Three of the applicants, Imed Daimi, Mondher Znaidi and Abdellatif Al Mekki, won their appeals and were expected to be reinstated, but on 1 September the ISIE rejected the court’s binding ruling and barred the three from campaigning, a move that undermines the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law.

Political opponents. On September 1, Tunisian authorities arrested Ayachi Zammel, one of the candidates initially endorsed by ISIE, on charges of “making donations to influence voter orientation.” Zammel allegedly paid to support his own candidacy. On September 5, a court ordered his release, but Zammel was subsequently arrested again and taken to Jendouba, in northwest Tunisia, on the same charges. On August 5, a first-instance court in Tunis sentenced five potential presidential candidates to eight months in prison and a lifetime ban from running for office on the same charge as Zammel: making donations to influence voter orientation. On September 8, the Court of Appeal in Tunis upheld the convictions of two of them: Abdellatif El Mekki and Nizar Chaari.

Freedom of the media. ISIE has attempted to limit independent media coverage of the elections. According to the journalists’ union, at least four private radio stations have received written warnings since July for comments broadcast in relation to the election campaign. Radio Mosaïque FM, one of the most listened to in the country, for example, received two warnings claiming that comments made by journalists Kaouther Zantour and Assya Atrous were “an insult and a mockery of the work of ISIE and the electoral process.” On August 20, independent journalist Khaoula Boukrim, founder of the news website Tumedia, showed an email in which ISIE revoked her accreditation to cover the election campaign for “violating the duty to ensure objective, balanced and neutral media coverage.”

Distribution of Jeune Afrique magazine prohibited. This episode represents a precedent in the history of rights and freedoms repressed in Tunisia since 2011. “It is not the role of the ISIE to control the work of the media. The accreditations granted to journalists and observers are intended to facilitate access during the different phases of the elections and not to exercise control over the coverage of the same and limit the freedom of the media”, comments Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty InternationalJeune Afrique magazine has been banned from distributing its September issue in Tunisia, allegedly because of an article critical of President Kais Saied titled “The Hyper President.”

Prevent election monitoring. ISIE rejected accreditation requests from NGOs IWatch and Mourakiboun, two Tunisian organizations that have been monitoring elections since 2014. According to the organization, the two NGOs have received “suspicious foreign funding from countries with which Tunisia does not have diplomatic relations” – Amnesty documents. According to international human rights standards, associations must have the freedom to receive funding from various sources, both national and international, without undue restrictions.

Seventy people in arbitrary detention. Since 2022, Tunisian authorities have been cracking down on political opponents and perceived critics of President Saied. More than 70 people, including lawyers, journalists, human rights defenders and activists, have been subjected to arbitrary detention and prosecution simply for exercising their rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association.