Since the coup d'état of President Kaies Saïd in defiance of the Constitution on July 25, 2021, Tunisia has been transformed into a vast prison for all those who hold an opinion contrary to the de facto authority in place.
These are politicians and general secretaries of civil society parties and associations arrested because of their critical approach. Some of them have been held for 22 months without trial, in flagrant violation of the law on preventive detention. They risk the death penalty on the pretext of "plotting against state security", without proof of any crime, notwithstanding their disavowal of the regime's authoritarian practices. Some of them are transferred from one prison to another, on the grounds of reprisals.
They are journalists who believed in their profession and did it honestly, businessmen sentenced to long prison terms because they refused to be blackmailed by the regime, civil society activists who helped migrants facing racism from the authorities and the violation of their most fundamental rights, bloggers who expressed their opinions on social networks caught in the trap of Decree 54, which criminalizes freedom of opinion and expression and makes the Tunisian head of state a sacred being above all criticism and accountability.
Never before in Tunisia's history have so many women prisoners been arrested and prosecuted for their peaceful political struggle, journalistic work, commitment to solidarity or civic activism.
In short, Tunisia, once an example of freedom and democracy in the Arab region, has been transformed into a media wasteland where public and private media vie in praise of the authorities' decisions, where free opinion is absent, and where political and human rights work has become grounds for criminalization and a gateway to prison.
On the occasion of the day of solidarity with Tunisian prisoners of conscience (December 21, 2024),the undersigned Maghrebian and international personalities and organizations,
- Express their total solidarity with all political prisoners in Tunisia and prisoners of conscience of all sensibilities and orientations;
- Condemn the racist crimes, violence and mass expulsion campaigns against sub-Saharan migrants, which have worsened in the face of the racist speech made by the Head of State in February 2023, and support those arrested and detained for their solidarity and assistance to migrants.
- Call on the Tunisian authorities to stop using the judiciary to settle scores with any dissenting opinion, and call on all judges and magistrates in Tunisia to respect the law and act in good conscience so as not to become a tool of repression and intimidation in the hands of a dictatorial regime.
- Call on all democratic forces in Tunisia, the Maghreb and the rest of the world to press for an end to the suffering of political prisoners and prisoners of conscience in Tunisia, and of their families, who have been plunged for months into terrible uncertainty.
The Committee for the Respect of Freedoms and Human Rights in Tunisia(CRLDHT)
With the support of :
Organizations
Association of Citizens from Turkey(ACORT)
Association for the Defense of Human Rights in Morocco(ASDHOM)
Democratic Association of Tunisians in France(ADTF)
Association of families of Sahrawi prisoners and missing persons(AFAPREDESA)
Association of Moroccans in France(AMF)
Associations of relatives and friends of missing persons in Morocco (APADM)
Association of North African Workers in France (ATMF)
Cédétim / IPAM
Center for Research and Information on Development (CRID)
Regional Collective for North-South Cooperation - Hauts de France(CORENS)
Support Committee for the Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights(CS-LADDH)
Maghreb Coordination of Human Rights Organizations(CMODH)
Droit au logement(DAL)
Straight ahead(DD)
E-Joussour - Morocco
Europe solidaire sans frontières(ESSF), France
Moroccan space for human rights
Ensemble vivre et travailler(EVTC)
Frantz Fanon Foundation(FFF)
Moroccan Forum for Southern Alternatives(FMAS)
Forum Palestine Citoyenneté(FPC)
Euro-Mediterranean Federation against Enforced Disappearances
Federation of Tunisian Citizens from Both Shores (FTCR)
Moroccan Forum for Truth and Justice(FMVJ)
Immigrant information and support group(GISTI)
National support group for prisoners in Morocco(INSDM)
Human Rights League(LDH)
Movement against racism and for friendship between peoples(MRAP)
Pour une Alternative Démocratique en Algérie(PADA).
Ruptures Feminist Network
Euromed France Network(REF)
Riposte Internationale, human rights NGO
SOS Racisme
French Jewish Union for Peace(UJFP)
Union of Tunisian Immigrant Workers(UTIT)
Trade unions
Fédération syndicale unitaire (FSU)
Union syndicale Solidaires
Parties
ENSEMBLE mouvement pour une alternative de gauche écologiste et solidaire (movement for a left-wing, ecological and united alternative)
La France Insoumise(LFI)
El Jomhouri Party - Tunisia
NPA l'Anticapitaliste
People
Fouad Abdelmoumni, economist and human rights activist - Morocco
Gilbert Achcar, Professor, SOAS, University of London
Tewfik Allal, immigration and human rights activist
Sami Bargaoui, academic
Patrick Baudouin - Lawyer - Honorary President of FIDH and LDH.
Brahim Belguith, lawyer,
Farouk Belkeddar, French-Algerian citizen
Jean Bellanger, trade unionist, EVTC
Sélim Ben Abdesselem, former member of the National Constituent Assembly.
Vincent Brengarth, lawyer (Bourdon et associés)
Jean Claude Amara, spokesman for Droit devant
Philippe Corcuff, university professor of political science at Sciences Po Lyon
Christiane Dabdoub-Nasser, President, Roberto Cimetta Fund
Monique Dental, founding president of the Réseau Féministe "Ruptures".
Bernard Dréano, Chairman of Cédetim
Mohsen Dridi, community activist
Nassera Dutour, human rights activist
Dr. Shirin Ebadi 2003 Nobel Peace Laureate- Prix Nobel de la Paix 2003
Ali Elbaz, community activist
Zied ELHENI - Journalist - Tunisia
Driss Elkeherchi, teacher, community activist
Rachid Elmanouzi, human rights activist
Jean Baptiste Eyraut , DAL spokesman
Mireille Fanon Mendes France, President of FFF
Jacques Fath, international relations specialist
Abdellouheb Fersaoui, political activist
René Gallissot, Professor Emeritus, University of Paris 8.
Alain Grech, journalist
Pierre Henry, President France Fraternités
Lahbib Kamel, community activist - Morocco
Abdellatif Laabi, Poet
Michèle Leclerc Olive, IRIS- CNRS EHSS, CR1HDR Honorary President CORENS
Gilles Lemaire, political activist
Renée Le Mignot, former MRAP president
Danièle Lochak, academic
Marc Mangenot, economist, community activist
Maryse Martinez President of MRAP 66 and member of MRAP's BN and National Council
Marc Mercier, Honorary Chairman of REF
Khadija Mohsen-Finan, academic
Patrick Mony, community activist
Brahim Ouchelh, human rights activist
Thomas Portes, LFI deputy for Seine Saint Denis
Aissa Rahmoun, FIDH General Secretary
Marguérite Rollinde, human rights activist
Pierre Rousset, community activist and internationalist
Khadija Ryadhi, winner of the 2013 UN Human Rights Award, President of CMODH
Francois Sauterey - Co-president of MRAP
Bernard Schmidt, lawyer, anti-racism activist
Dominique Sopo, President of SOS Racisme
Hamouda Soubhi , human rights activist
Marie-Christine Vergiat, lawyer, LDH, former member of the European Parliament
Maria Valentina Viettro Corbo - Responsible for International Solidarity at the Ligue de l'Enseignement de Bouches de Rhône.
Abdallah Zniber, immigration and human rights activist
