Tunisia’s human rights situation has deteriorated dramatically five years after President Kais Saied seized extraordinary executive powers on 25 July 2021, Human Rights Watch said.
What began as a slide toward authoritarianism has hardened into systematic repression targeting civil society organizations, journalists, political opponents, independent lawyers, and migrants, the organization said in an updated briefing paper on 4 September 2026.
Since May 2024, authorities have systematically targeted NGOs through arbitrary arrests, prolonged pretrial detention, financial and criminal investigations, and administrative suspensions, it said.
At least 47 people linked to civil society groups have faced prosecution under vague provisions of passport, foreigner status, counterterrorism, and financial crime laws, HRW said.
At least eight NGO workers were held beyond the 14-month legal maximum for pretrial detention, and since January 2026 at least 14 have been convicted and sentenced to prison terms for their legitimate activities.
Prominent cases include the May 2024 arrests of Tunisian Council for Refugees founder Mustapha Djemali, 81, and project manager Abderrazak Krimi for assisting registered refugees in partnership with UNHCR, HRW added, noting that they spent 19 months in pretrial detention before conviction and release.
Saadia Mosbah, head of the anti-racism association Mnemty, received an eight-year prison sentence in March 2026 for money laundering and illicit enrichment charges.
Between July 2025 and April 2026, a Tunis court ordered the temporary suspension of at least 20 associations, including the Tunisian Association of Democratic Women, I Watch, Nawaat, and the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights.
HRW also documents continued attacks on judicial independence. After dissolving the independent High Judicial Council in 2022 and replacing it with a provisional body under executive control, Saied has used decree-laws to dismiss judges and shape careers.
Courts have issued politically motivated convictions, including in the “Conspiracy Case,” where 37 people, including lawyers, academics, journalists, and opposition figures, received sentences ranging from 4 to 66 years after a mass trial lasting only three sessions.
Defense lawyers in that case have themselves faced prosecution and harassment.
Freedom of expression remains under severe pressure. Authorities have frequently invoked Decree-Law 54 on cybercrime’s vague “fake news” provisions against critics, resulting in at least one death sentence.
Several journalists remain or have recently been released from prison after lengthy detentions. In August 2025, authorities shut down the National Authority for Access to Information.
On migration, the briefing notes ongoing serious abuses against Black African migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees, including arbitrary arrests, collective expulsions to the borders with Algeria and Libya, ill-treatment, torture, and sexual violence.
HRW also criticized the European Union’s continued financial support for migration control in Tunisia, including €105 million under a 2023 memorandum of understanding, arguing that resources have been provided to security forces with documented records of rights violations and without meaningful accountability.
