Responding to the news that a Tunisian court has sentenced Sihem Bensedrine to 25 years in prison after being convicted on bogus charges in connection with her work as the President of the Truth and Dignity Commission (IVD), Amnesty International’s Secretary General, Agnès Callamard said:
“This verdict is an utter travesty of justice. It is outrageous that Sihem Bensedrine is facing 25 years behind bars simply for her life-long human rights work and defense. Her unjust conviction is also an assault against transitional justice and accountability for victims of human rights violations.
“That a prominent human rights defender and leading figure of transitional justice in Tunisia following the 2011 uprising is today being vilified and criminalized simply for doing her job starkly illustrates the extent of Tunisia’s human rights regression in recent years. It is also yet another grim example of how Tunisia’s judiciary has been weaponized as a tool of state repression to target human rights defenders, signaling a zero-tolerance approach to any dissent.
“Tunisia’s authorities must immediately quash this politically motivated conviction and end their use of the criminal judicial system to silence dissent.
“Sihem Bensedrine’s sentencing comes as Tunisia has intensified its crackdown on civil society and human rights defenders.
“This sentence and all unjust sentences before handed over to human rights defenders, activists and political actors are also an indictment of European States and the European Union which have failed to denounce actively and effectively Tunisia’s shameful regression as part of Europe’s equally shameful externalization migration policy.
“European states – as Tunisia’s main diplomatic partners – must act now and press Tunisia’s authorities to uphold their human rights obligations and end their relentless crackdown on political opponents, human rights defenders, and critics.”
Background
The Tunis first instance court convicted Sihem Bensedrine following her arbitrary prosecution in two separate cases related to her work in her role as president of the Truth and Dignity Commission (IVD) under charges of “fraud”, “forgery” and “abuse of official capacity to harm the administration”. Authorities denied access to the courtroom to a delegation of Amnesty International observers from its Tunisian, French and Belgian sections on the two hearings of June 18 to 25, despite the trial being public.
On August 1, 2024, a Tunis investigative judge ordered Sihem Bensedrine’s arbitrary pre-trial detention. Judicial authorities ordered her provisional release on February 19, 2025. The IVD had been set up in the aftermath of the 2011 uprising to investigate gross human rights violations and state corruption as a means to deliver justice and reparations to victims.
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