Tunisia

In November 2020, Amnesty International released a report documenting a pattern of criminal investigations and prosecutions of young activists in relation to their peaceful exercise of freedom of expression on social media. In several cases, young activists were summoned for criticizing the government’s response to Covid-19.

On 16 April 2021, the Tunisian Ministry of Health issued a directive stating that only a specified list of representatives from the health sector are authorized to make statements to the media or on social media in relation to the pandemic. Doctors and other Ministry of Health workers whose names are not listed may face disciplinary and criminal punishment if they speak to journalists or post on social media without prior authorization.

At least nine bloggers and social media users were investigated or faced criminal prosecutions for publishing online posts critical of local authorities, the police or other state officials under restrictive Penal Code and Telecommunications Code provisions that criminalize “insult”. In five of these cases the people were detained for periods ranging between a few hours and two weeks. Police unions openly threatened to press charges against people for legitimate criticism of police conduct.¹

In April 2020, police arrested two bloggers, Anis Mabrouki and Hajer Awadi, after they criticized on Facebook local authorities’ distribution of aid during lockdown. On 13 April, the prosecution of the Court of First Instance of El-Kef city charged Hajer Awadi with “insulting a civil servant” under Article 125 of the Penal Code and “causing noises and disturbances to the public” under Article 316, in reference to an altercation that took place between her and a police officer who tried to stop her from filming live on the street.² She was detained until 20 April when the court sentenced her to a suspended 75-day prison term. On 15 April, Anis Mabrouki was charged with “causing noises and disturbances to the public” and “accusing public officials of crimes related to their jobs without furnishing proof of guilt.” He was detained until the Court of First Instance in Manouba city acquitted him on 30 April.

In July, the Court of First Instance of Tunis sentenced blogger Emna Chargui to six months in prison after convicting her on charges relating to a satirical social media post she shared that was deemed “offensive to Islam”. The charges were “inciting hatred between religions through hostile means or violence” and “offending authorized religions” under Articles 52 and 53 of the Press Code, respectively.³ On 8 October 2020, Myriam Bribri, an anti-impunity activist, appeared before the Court of First Instance in Sfax after being charged the same day under Article 86 of the Telecommunications Code following a complaint from the Secretary General of a security forces union in Sfax, accusing her of “insulting the police”.

LGBTI people continued to be arrested and prosecuted under laws that criminalize consensual same-sex sexual relations, “indecency” and acts deemed “offensive to public morals”. According to DAMJ, the Tunisian Association for Justice and Equality, between January and October, courts convicted at least 15 men and one woman under Article 230 of the Penal Code, which criminalizes “sodomy”.

Transgender people faced police harassment and continued to live with the risk of arrest under vague “public decency” articles of the Penal Code, including Article 226bis.

On 5 August 2020, a police officer verbally abused Rania Amdouni, a feminist LGBTI rights activist and President of the association Chouf Minorities, in the centre of downtown Tunis. This led to a verbal altercation between the police officer and Rania Amdouni which attracted attention from passers-by who then attacked her and three of her friends. The police stood by, failing to intervene to stop the attack and inciting the violence by using homophobic and transphobic insults. The four pressed charges and an investigation was opened. Although the identity of the police officers involved was known, they were not suspended or arrested following the investigation.

On 15 March 2020, the Supreme Judicial Council postponed all civil case hearings, including family law cases, on the grounds that all but “emergency or necessary” court proceedings were suspended. This hindered women’s access to justice because “emergency” cases as specified by the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Judicial Council did not take into account the situation of women as they excluded matters relating to domestic abuse, custody of children, alimony and protective measures dealt with by a family judge.

According to the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, helplines and shelters for survivors of violence reported a sharp increase in calls for help and requests for emergency shelter during the pandemic. Between 23 March and 31 May, 9,800 calls were recorded on the Ministry of Family’s toll-free numbers, nine times more than usual. Of these, 2,700 concerned cases involving violence. According to women’s rights organizations, police failed in many cases to provide the necessary response to women at risk of domestic violence during lockdown.

Trials of people accused of human rights violations perpetrated between 1956 and 2013, referred by the Commission, continued before specialized criminal chambers, albeit at a slow pace with frequent adjournments.

Victims, and relatives of victims who had died, continued to await implementation of the reparation programme set up by the Truth and Dignity Commission. The government established a reparations fund in June that was activated on 24 December. The reparations included financial compensation, rehabilitation, professional integration or education, the restitution of rights and official apologies.

The first hearing in the trial of customs officials accused of killing Aymen Othmani in 2018 was held on 21 January at the Tunis II Court of First Instance. The two officials charged with manslaughter and three others charged with failure to provide assistance were not present at the hearing. Aymen Othmani died in Sidi Hassine neighbourhood of Tunis, the capital, after customs officials fired live bullets during a raid on a contraband warehouse. According to the forensic report, Aymen Othmani was shot in the back and upper leg.

Authorities continued to arrest and detain, without legal grounds, undocumented migrants and asylum-seekers. At least 50 migrants from sub-Saharan countries were detained arbitrarily between March and September in the Ouardia Reception and Orientation Centre in Tunis. In June, a group of 22 migrants detained in the Centre filed an urgent complaint before the Tunis Administrative Court challenging their arbitrary detention. On 10 July, the Court issued an order to suspend the detention of the migrants. The Ministry of Interior gradually released the detainees between July and September. The Ouardia Centre continued to receive migrants and asylum-seekers, and remained overcrowded with at least 50 detainees sharing five rooms, two bathrooms and a communal eating area. These conditions made it impossible to prevent the spread of COVID-19, posing a grave risk to the health of all those who worked and stayed there.

On 24 June 2020, and after a delay of a year, the government finally published in the official gazette the report of the Truth and Dignity Commission, the entity that looked into human rights violations perpetrated between 1956 and 2013. The report exposed the multi-layered and intricate system of oppression and corruption prevalent in Tunisia for 60 years and made recommendations for reform.

Trials of people accused of human rights violations perpetrated between 1956 and 2013, referred by the Commission, continued before specialized criminal chambers, albeit at a slow pace with frequent adjournments.

Victims, and relatives of victims who had died, continued to await implementation of the reparation programme set up by the Truth and Dignity Commission. The government established a reparations fund in June that was activated on 24 December. The reparations included financial compensation, rehabilitation, professional integration or education, the restitution of rights and official apologies.

The first hearing in the trial of customs officials accused of killing Aymen Othmani in 2018 was held on 21 January at the Tunis II Court of First Instance. The two officials charged with manslaughter and three others charged with failure to provide assistance were not present at the hearing. Aymen Othmani died in Sidi Hassine neighbourhood of Tunis, the capital, after customs officials fired live bullets during a raid on a contraband warehouse. According to the forensic report, Aymen Othmani was shot in the back and upper leg.

Death sentences were handed down; there were no executions. The country is abolitionist in practice as it retains the death penalty in law, but hasn’t executed for at least 10 years. Unfortunately, current President Saïed said he was in favour of resuming executions during a National Security Council meeting.

Tunisia’s vaccine rollout began in March 2021 but has been undermined by a lack of transparency, political interference, delays in vaccine shipments and a failure to take into consideration human rights vulnerabilities in selection of priority groups.

Human rights must be considered when deciding who to prioritize.

Between March and September 2020, health workers in hospitals in Kasserine, Sfax, Tunis and other governorates staged protests against the authorities’ failure to protect them against COVID-19 at work. The Health Workers Union protested against the lack of sufficient personal protective equipment (PPE) in health facilities and criticized the government for failing to address their needs. In response to this, in September, the union and the Ministry of Health reached an agreement that included a commitment from the government to provide PPE for health workers, consider COVID-19 an occupational disease and give health workers priority in COVID-19 testing procedures.