Ahead of an upcoming hearing on 19 June during which the Tunis appeals court will re-examine the conviction of Saadia Mosbah, a prominent Tunisian Black human rights defender, and five of her colleagues from the anti-racist organization Mnemty, based on unfounded financial criminal charges stemming from their human rights work, Amnesty International’s North Africa researcher Safia Rayan said:

“The initial verdict issued on 19 March against Saadia Mosbah and other Mnemty staff and collaborators, among them four who now risk imminent arrest, is shocking and profoundly unjust. It is another appalling indictment of the Tunisian authorities’ ongoing weaponization of the criminal justice system to silence civil society. It is shocking how far the authorities are willing to go in their assault on the right to freedom of association and human rights work, disproportionately targeting Black and anti-racism defenders.   

“The Tunisian authorities have been using bogus financial criminal charges to target and harass perceived critics. This verdict follows the conviction of five other NGO workers and confirms the chilling escalation in the authorities’ crackdown of civic space. 

“The coordinated racist smear campaign and stigmatization of NGOs fuelling this crackdown have tainted this verdict, undermining the defendants’ rights to a fair trial and to be protected from discrimination. We are particularly concerned by reports that Saadia Mosbah has been subjected to racism and a physical assault in prison that may amount to torture, amid the failure of the authorities to investigate her claims. Two other Black defendants also faced racial discrimination during the investigation, which judicial authorities failed to address during trial.  

We call on the Tunisian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Saadia Mosbah and quash the conviction against her and the other Mnemty staff and collaborators.

Safia Rayan, Amnesty International

“We call on the Tunisian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Saadia Mosbah and quash the conviction against her and the other Mnemty staff and collaborators. We urge the authorities to halt their crackdown on civil society and cease the arbitrary detentions of human rights defenders as well as their scapegoating and criminalization.” 

Background 

Saadia Mosbah, president of the anti-racist organization Mnemty [“My dream”], was arrested as part of a repressive clampdown against human rights defenders and civil society organizations working on migration and against discrimination in May 2024 and has been arbitrarily detained since. 

On 19 March 2026, the Tunis Court of First Instance sentenced Saadia Mosbah to eight years in prison and a fine of about TND 122,000 [EUR 36,000]. Five other Mnemty staff and collaborators were sentenced to prison terms ranging from one to three years and fines of up to TND 64,000 [EUR 19,000]; one of them is not in Tunisia and was convicted in her absence. The appeal trial opened on 19 May 2026 and was then postponed to 2 June then to 19 June.  

The court convicted the defendants of unsubstantiated charges of money laundering and “illicit enrichment”. The investigative judge did not present any evidence of illegal sources of funding or other criminal action and relied on an abusive interpretation of the provision of “illicit enrichment”, which lacks clarity.  

Since 2023, Tunisian officials including President Kais Saied have repeatedly incited racial discrimination while disparaging civil society organizations. This narrative has fuelled a hostile environment that specifically targets organizations like Mnemty.  

Like dozens of other NGOs facing court-ordered suspensions and threats of dissolution, the Tunisian government also requested the dissolution of Mnemty; dissolution proceedings opened on 11 May and are ongoing.  

The post Tunisia: Quash unjust convictions of anti-racism activists Saadia Mosbah and Mnemty staff appeared first on Amnesty International.

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