Tunisia: American sanctions are coming!

The authoritarian regime of Kais Saied will be hit with severe U.S. sanctions for dismantling Tunisia’s democracy, jailing political opponents, and escalating crackdown against human rights activists.

The announcement was made by U.S. Congressman Joe Wilson in a letter addressed to Tunisian MP Fatma Msebbi who had called on him to apologize for his harsh statements on Tunisia.

The Republican member of the House of Representative had called on the Trump administration to stop U.S. aid to Tunisia which he described “a state police”. In 2023, America provided $167.2 million in aid to Tunisia.

“I will never apologize for standing for democracy. Tunisia now is a dictatorship based on rule of gun, working closely with other dictators such as the regime in Teheran,” said the U.S. congressman.

“I will soon introduce a legislation to impose sanctions on Tunisia’s regime including all those involved in undermining democracy, jailing political opponents, and other human rights abuses”, said the Representative of South Carolina in his letter to Tunisian MP Msebbi.

In 2019, Tunisia was a shining example of democracy in the Arab world. Sadly, “the dictator Kais Saied has dismantled Tunisia’s democracy, abolishing the constitution and parliament and rigging elections”, said the American congressman.

“Today, I was shocked to see Tunisia former Prime minister and Parliament speaker (Rached Ghannouchi) sentenced to jail for decades on illegal political charges. In addition, dozens of others from all different political perspectives have been jailed”, added the influential republican politician, affirming that “U.S. aid should be cut & sanctions imposed until democracy is restored in Tunisia”.