Tunisia: Escalating crackdown on human rights organizations reaches critical levels
Tunisian authorities have increasingly escalated their crackdown on human rights defenders and independent non-governmental organizations (NGOs) through arbitrary arrests, detention, asset freezes, bank restrictions and court-ordered suspensions, all under the pretext of fighting “suspicious” foreign funding and shielding “national interests,” Amnesty International said today.
In an unprecedented step six NGO workers and human rights defenders working for the Tunisian Council for Refugees are being criminally prosecuted on charges solely related to their legitimate work supporting refugees and asylum seekers. The opening trial session on 16 October was adjourned until 24 November.
In the past four months alone, at least 14 Tunisian and international NGOs received court orders to suspend their activities for 30 days. This includes four prominent organizations in the past three weeks; the Tunisian Association of Democratic Women (ATFD), the Tunisian Forum for Social and Economic Rights (FTDES), Nawaat and the Tunis branch of the World Organization against Torture (OMCT).
