UN warns that lawyers are being imprisoned in Tunisia for speaking out

The United Nations Human Rights office (OHCHR) has issued a warning over the Tunisian President Saied's assault on the legal profession, raising the alarm about arrests, prosecutions, and prison sentences meted out to lawyers critical of his rule.

In a statement released on Monday, OHCHR experts stated that the targeting of legal professionals "solely for performing their role in the justice system or exercising their freedom of expression" poses a direct threat to the country's judicial integrity and the right to a fair trial.

Ahmed Souab

At the centre of the concerns is the arrest of prominent lawyer and former judge Ahmed Souab, who was detained in April 2025 after criticising the conviction of several opposition figures he had represented in court.

Those clients had received long prison terms on charges of "conspiracy against State security," a classification that rights groups argue is increasingly being used to silence political dissent.

Souab's arrest galvanised opposition figures across Tunisia's fragmented political spectrum. Hamma Hammami, head of the Workers' Party and a veteran opponent of successive regimes, described Souab as a "unifying symbol" in the defence of civil liberties, recalling his decades-long commitment to human rights, including under the Ben Ali dictatorship.

Tunisia's powerful trade union, the UGTT, also backed Souab, denouncing the "political misuse" of legal instruments and appointing a legal team in his defence.

Sonia Dahmani

Meanwhile, the case of Sonia Dahmani has become emblematic of Tunisia's current repressions against lawyers.

The lawyer and political commentator was violently arrested in May 2024 at the Bar Association in Tunis by masked officers, following comments made on national television in which she mocked official government rhetoric on migration and poverty.

Dahmani now faces five criminal cases under the controversial Decree-Law 2022-54 on cybercrime.

In January 2025, she was sentenced to 18 months in prison, a second sentence of two years was handed down in June. OHCHR experts noted that the charges "appear to stem solely from her public speech."

According to Intersection, a Tunis-based human rights watchdog monitoring the case, Dahmani's detention involved numerous due process violations, including restricted access to legal counsel, solitary confinement, and procedural irregularities, raising the spectre of arbitrary detention.

Her arrest took place during a sit-in at the Bar Association, a symbolic stronghold of legal independence, and her ongoing prosecution is viewed by many as part of a wider campaign to silence dissent.

The OHCHR report's also cited other lawyers, including Dalila Msaddak, Islem Hamza, Ayachi Hamami, Ghazi Chaouachi, Mehdi Zagrouba, and Lazhar Akremi, who have faced criminal proceedings or prison sentences for either representing politically sensitive clients or publicly voicing critical opinions.

"These measures directly interfere with the independence of the legal profession. They appear designed to ensure critics of the executive are silenced," added the OHCHR's press release.

In reaction to the UN's statement, Msaddak thanked the international organisation for doing what local institutions have "fallen short of doing."

Kais Saied's attempts to control the judiciary 

Since assuming sweeping powers in July 2021, President Kais Saied has moved decisively to consolidate authority across judicial institutions.

In February 2022, he dissolved the High Judicial Council, Tunisia's main safeguard of judicial independence, and replaced it with a temporary body composed of members he appoints and can dismiss at will.

That same year, 57 judges were summarily sacked by presidential decree.

Saied also deployed laws like Decree 54 to prosecute lawyers, journalists, and activists under vaguely defined offences such as "spreading false news."

Other rights groups including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch (HRW), and the International Commission of Jurists have condemned these developments as a direct threat to the rule of law.

Once hailed as the 2011's regional uprisings' "sole democratic success story", Tunisia has come under mounting scrutiny as the Saied administration intensifies its clampdown on dissent.

In recent months, critics ranging from lawyers and politicians to migrants and trade unionists have faced arrests and harassment, with some civilians now being tried before military tribunals.

The government's growing reliance on ambiguous legal tools, especially Decree 54, has fuelled fears that the last institutional checks on executive power are being dismantled.

"We call on Tunisia to comply with international standards providing that lawyers should be able to carry out all their professional duties without intimidation, hindrance, harassment or improper interference," added the OHCHR's statement.

The UN experts have been in contact with the Tunisian government regarding their concerns. Tunis has yet to address the UN's statement.