Tunisia uses arbitrary detention to silence dissenters, HRW says
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has accused the Tunisian government of using arbitrary arrests and politically motivated prosecutions to silence critics, in what the rights group describes as an escalating crackdown on dissent under President Kais Saied.
In a report released on April 16, HRW urged President Saied to end the clampdown and release all political detainees, warning that Tunisia’s democratic progress is at serious risk.
The warning comes as several prominent opposition leaders face trial on charges of conspiring against state security - charges HRW says are dubious and aimed at curbing political opposition.
“Authorities appear to be using vague laws and an increasingly compliant judiciary to target critics,” the report stated, noting a pattern of intimidation, detention without due process, and shrinking space for political expression.
Since Saied dissolved Tunisia’s parliament in 2021 and began ruling by decree, concerns have mounted about the country’s democratic backslide. Opposition parties have accused the president of orchestrating a “coup” and undermining judicial independence.
Saied, however, has consistently rejected those claims, asserting that his actions are constitutional and necessary to combat corruption and political paralysis. “I am not establishing a dictatorship,” he said previously, adding that his mission is to protect Tunisia from collapse, not to erode its democratic institutions.
The Human Rights Watch documented the prosecution and detention of six women and 22 men arrested between December 2022 and August 2024 for the report.
