Tunisian police detain leading human rights defender as crackdown on critics widens

Tunisian police arrested prominent opposition lawyer and human rights defender Ayachi Hammami at his home near Tunis on Tuesday, enforcing a five-year prison sentence handed down last week in a controversial “conspiracy against state security” case, according to family members.

Hammami is one of at least 40 individuals, including politicians and business figures, who received prison sentences ranging from two to 45 years in the same case. The crackdown has drawn sharp criticism from international organizations, with Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International condemning the charges as politically motivated.

In anticipation of his arrest, Hammami released a pre-recorded video on Facebook announcing his intention to begin an open-ended hunger strike until he is freed. “I will turn the cell that Kais Saied would lock me in into a space for struggle as well,” he declared, calling for unity against what he described as tyranny.

His daughter, Fida Hammami, told The Associated Press that her father’s conviction resulted from “a sham trial based on unfounded charges and riddled with violations of due process and fair trial rights.” She emphasized that the court had “lost all its independence” during President Saied’s tenure.

“My father’s arrest is only the latest example in the crackdown on dissent, political opposition and all forms of critical expression in Tunisia,” she said. “He has fought for human rights, justice and democracy all his life, and he will continue to do so from his prison cell.”

The mass sentencing represents a significant escalation in President Saied’s campaign against opposition figures and critics since his controversial power grab in July 2021, when he suspended parliament and began ruling by decree. Once celebrated as the lone democratic success story of the Arab Spring, Tunisia has experienced a steady erosion of civil liberties and democratic norms over the past three years.

The verdicts issued by the Tunis Court of Appeal last week also led to the arrest of Chaima Issa, a leader of the National Salvation Front, who received a 20-year sentence. Plainclothes officers seized Issa on Saturday after an opposition protest, forcing her into an unmarked vehicle. Like Hammami, she has since announced a hunger strike to protest her detention.

Tunisia’s judicial system, once considered among the more independent in the region, has faced mounting allegations of being weaponized against the president’s critics. Legal proceedings against opposition figures have accelerated dramatically in recent months, often relying on vaguely defined national security charges that international legal experts say fall well below international standards for due process.

President Saied and his government have repeatedly rejected accusations of political motivation behind the prosecutions. They maintain that these legal actions are necessary to protect the state from what they characterize as serious threats to national security and alleged plots to destabilize the country.

The latest wave of arrests comes amid a deteriorating economic situation in Tunisia, with rising inflation, high unemployment, and growing public discontent. The country has struggled to secure international financial support, partly due to concerns about democratic backsliding and human rights violations.

Human rights defenders fear that Hammami’s imprisonment—given his stature as a longtime advocate for democratic freedoms—signals an even more intense phase in the government’s suppression of dissent. His arrest may also further complicate Tunisia’s already strained relations with international partners and financial institutions that have expressed concern over the country’s democratic regression.

As both Hammami and Issa begin hunger strikes from detention, opposition groups are calling for increased international pressure on Saied’s government and greater solidarity with political prisoners in what they describe as a critical moment for Tunisia’s future.