Tunisia’s authorities have ordered the one-month suspension of the Tunisian League for Human Rights, part of the National Dialogue Quartet that won the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize, in a move the rights group described as part of a broader crackdown on civil society. The league confirmed the suspension in a statement late Friday, warning that it violates freedom of association and amounts to a direct assault on a democratic gain.
The league, which has positioned itself as a key human rights organization in Tunisia, said the measure cannot be viewed in isolation from a wider environment that it described as increasing systematic pressure on civil society and independent voices. It said it would challenge the decision in court while continuing to defend victims of rights violations without discrimination.
President Kais Saied has often pointed to foreign funding, an accusation rights groups have sometimes faced in Tunisia, as a threat to the country. The argument has been used to fuel a populist narrative and to accuse political opponents and social justice activists of acting as foreign agents and stirring unrest at home, the league said in the context of its case.
The suspension also comes after a series of similar actions against rights groups and NGOs in Tunisia. Courts last year ordered multiple prominent organizations to halt their activities for a month, including groups focused on migrants’ and women’s rights, according to the league’s account and the reporting it drew on.
In parallel with the suspension, the developments in recent days included the detention of journalist Zied El-Heni. Authorities placed El-Heni under 48-hour detention over a Facebook post, the reporting said, as part of what rights advocates described as a broader pattern of arrests and legal pressure targeting critics.
Mohamed Yassine Jlassi, identified as a former president of the Tunisian journalists union SNJT, said in comments to The Associated Press during a protest in Tunis that hundreds of people were being detained over speech-related charges, including social media posts. He said “Repression has come to affect everyone,” adding that “Journalism has become a crime, civil society work has become a crime, political opposition has been criminalized,” and he warned that people are increasingly facing “arbitrary prosecutions” without what he described as “the bare minimum guarantees of a fair trial.”
The pressure on independent media has also been reflected in the case involving Inkyfada, an investigative outlet. The reporting said Inkyfada faces a court hearing on May 11 connected to efforts to dissolve Al Khatt, the association that publishes the site, and that the association disputes the legal basis of the case, saying claims cited by the government have not been examined by Tunisian courts since 2024.
Together, the suspension of the Tunisian League for Human Rights and the legal pressure affecting journalists and independent outlets add to concerns voiced by rights advocates about restrictions on civil society and media in Tunisia under Saied, who has consolidated power since 2021 and has repeatedly accused groups of receiving foreign funding to destabilize Tunisia’s national interests.