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).
“It is deeply alarming to witness the steady erosion of Tunisia’s once-vibrant civil society, one of the most significant achievements of the 2011 revolution, made possible at the time by the adoption of Decree Law 88 on Associations. Authorities are systematically dismantling the rule of law, shrinking civic space and stifling any form of dissent. This is part of a broader trend of authoritarian practices unfolding in different parts of the world,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns at Amnesty International.
“Instead of targeting organizations working to support economic, social and political rights, Tunisian authorities must end this campaign of intimidation and immediately release all NGO workers and human rights defenders detained or prosecuted in reprisal for exercising their civic rights and lift all related provisional measures, such as asset freezes. They must drop abusive charges, lift arbitrary suspensions, and end criminal prosecutions of organizations lawfully conducting their activities.”
Since 2023, Tunisian authorities have frequently smeared NGOs receiving foreign funding. In May 2024, President Kais Saied accused NGOs working on migration of being “traitors” and “[foreign] agents,” and of seeking the “settlement” of Sub-Saharan migrants in Tunisia.
One day later, the public prosecutor in Tunis announced the opening of an investigation against NGOs for providing “financial support to illegal migrants.” Over the following weeks, Tunisian authorities raided the offices of three NGOs and opened investigations into the finances and activities of at least 12 Tunisian and international organizations working in migration.
Police arrested and arbitrarily detained eight directors or staff, and sometimes former staff, of these organizations on accusations linked to supporting irregular migrants or supposed “financial crimes” tied to lawful NGO funding. Two of these organizations have been prosecuted on unfounded criminal charges carrying heavy prison sentences.
In September 2024, shortly before the presidential elections, the crackdown extended to organizations working on election monitoring, corruption and human rights. By October 2024, the Ministry of Finance had opened investigations into at least 10 organizations, including Amnesty International’s International Secretariat Office in Tunis. During the same period at least 20 NGOs started to experience undue banking restrictions and delays that obstructed the receipt of foreign funds.
NGO staff targeted and held in arbitrary pre-trial detention
Two of the defendants in the criminal trial against staff at the Tunisian Council for Refugees (CTR) Mustapha Djemali, the founder and director, and Abderrazek Krimi, CTR project manager, have been in arbitrary pre-trial detention since May 2024. They are being tried alongside four other CTR staff members for their legitimate human rights work. CTR worked with UNHCR as an implementing partner to pre-register asylum seekers and provide essential assistance in Tunisia. The staff were indicted on charges of “forming an organization” to “assist the clandestine entry” of migrants into Tunisia and “providing them shelter,” offences that carry up to 13 years in prison.
In the second criminal prosecution of an NGO, three staff members of the Tunisian branch of the French migrants’ rights organization Tunisie Terre d’Asile – Sherifa Riahi, Yadh Bousselmi, and Mohamed Joo – will face trial on 15 December. The three have been held in pre-trial detention since May 2024, on unfounded charges of “sheltering individuals illegally entering or leaving the territory” and “facilitating the irregular entry, exit, movement, or stay of a foreigner.” In closing the investigation, the investigating judge cited an alleged “European-backed civil society plan to promote the social and economic integration of irregular migrants into Tunisia and their permanent settlement” as basis for the charges.
Other organizations targeted with criminal investigations and detention include children’s rights organization Children of the Moon of Medenine and anti-racism organization Mnemty whose legal representatives have been in detention since November and May 2024, and a number of their staff and partners have been subjected to criminal investigation for unfounded financial crimes. Authorities have also detained the executive director of the Association for the Promotion of the Right to Difference (ADD), Salwa Ghrissa, since 12 December 2024, pending investigation into the organization’s funding.
Crackdown expands to other human rights groups
In September 2024, the electoral commission denied accreditation to two reputable election observing organizations Mourakiboun and Iwatch, alleging “suspicious foreign funding.” A few days later, in September 2024, the Ministry of Finance Tax Evasion Investigation Unit (BILF) summoned them for interrogation. Within two weeks, prosecutors froze their bank accounts, effectively paralyzing operations.
From October 2024 onwards, the same Tax Evasion Investigation Unit opened an investigation into Amnesty International’s Regional Office in Tunis along with at least 10 other NGOs. Over the following months, the BILF summoned Amnesty International’s president of the board and two staff for interrogation and requested years’ worth of compliance reporting, all of which was provided. In October 2025, the Gorjani police’s financial-crimes brigade opened a criminal investigation into the organization in parallel. Investigations remain open against Amnesty International’s Regional Office, along with several other organizations.
In July 2025, the leading Tunisian organization FTDES received a similar summons and complied with all document requests; investigators also questioned contractors and service providers. Additional organizations – including media organizations – are under investigation by the National Guard Criminal Unit of Complex Crimes (El Aouina) or the Gorjani police brigade for alleged “suspicious” foreign funding, financial misconduct, money laundering, and other offences.
On 21 October 2025, the pro-government daily Al Chourouk reported that prosecutors had authorized police and National Guard units to open investigations into foreign funding received by dozens of associations from the Open Society Foundations, citing reports from the Financial Analysis Committee at the Central Bank and the Court of Accounts, and signalling possible tracing and freezing of funds pending judicial decisions.
Suspension orders
Between July and 10 November 2025, the court issued 30-day suspension orders for at least 14 organizations, including ATFD, Aswat Nissa, FTDES Nawaat and OMCT for 30 days under Decree-Law 88 on Associations.
Article 45 of Decree Law 88 sets penalties and procedures for organizations that violate specific provisions pertaining to fund management, financial reporting and other. In case of breach, the government Secretary-General must first issue a written warning specifying what needs to be rectified and granting up to 30 days to remedy it. If the association fails to comply, the Secretary General may petition the Court of First Instance to suspend the association’s activities for up to 30 days, a decision that is subject to expedited appeal.
Several organizations reported never receiving a warning; others – including ATFD – stated they had already remedied the alleged violations before the suspension according to the warning that they had received almost a year earlier, rendering the decisions arbitrary. According to ATFD the 30-day suspension meant closure of its women shelters, its helpline for survivors of domestic violence, with devastating consequences for those seeking protection and support.
Targeted smear campaigns have become common. For example, on 11 October, 25 human rights and civil society organizations issued a joint statement supporting residents of Gabès, who were protesting the health and environmental harms caused by state-owned chemical plants. Immediately afterward, pro-presidential social media accounts and media commentators accused the groups of being “mercenaries,” “foreign agents,” “corrupt,” and “traitors,” and called for a ban on foreign funding.
Banking restrictions and obstruction of lawful funding
From October 2024 onwards, NGOs have faced undue banking restrictions and undue delays in receiving foreign funding. Amnesty International reviewed the experiences of 20 NGOs whose banks either refused to process their transfers or returned their funds to donors. At least two banks instructed organizations to close their accounts without justification, and several NGOs subsequently struggled to open new accounts, severely disrupting operations and forcing at least one to close its Tunisia office. Other banks now require onerous paperwork for every transfer, generating delays of up to 10 weeks.
Under international human rights law, NGOs have the right to seek, receive, and use resources, including domestic, foreign, and international funding, as an essential component of freedom of association. Any restriction must be prescribed by law, pursue a legitimate aim, and be necessary and proportionate. Arbitrary or discriminatory limitations – including excessive administrative barriers – violate this right.
“This multi-pronged judicial and administrative harassment has created a pervasive climate of fear, restricting the rights to association and freedom of expression and smothering Tunisia’s civic space. Authorities must immediately take effective measures to uphold human rights and allow NGOs to freely carry out their human rights activities, protect human rights defenders and humanitarian workers, lift suspensions and unfreeze accounts,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Amnesty International.
