Algiers, December 13 (EFE). – Hundreds of Tunisian protesters took to the streets of the capital for the fourth week in a row this Saturday to demand freedom of civil and political activity, which they say has been restricted since President Kais Said took full power in 2021.
At the march, called for by opposition parties and civil society associations, demonstrators called for “a civil state against regression, fascism and racism” and hoisted banners with photos of politically motivated prisoners such as lawyer Abir Moussi and former judge and lawyer Ahmed Saoub.
The posters also included calls for the abolition of some laws, such as Decree 54, which imposes penalties for false reports, for which dozens of opponents have been prosecuted.
Yesterday, Friday, a Tunisian court sentenced the leader of the opposition Free Desturian Party (PDL), Abir Moussi, to twelve years in prison for, among other things, endangering state security, and her colleague Meriem Sasi to two years in prison, according to her lawyers, who boycotted the defense.
Another political prisoner mentioned today was Souab, lawyer for those imprisoned in the “Conspiracy against State Security” case, in which more than 30 people were sentenced to prison terms of up to 45 years.
The verdicts for the macro conspiracy trial, whose convicts include several political and civil society figures, have drawn criticism from a large part of civil society at local and international levels, warning of a setback for freedoms.
Tunisia began a democratic transition in 2011 with the so-called Arab Spring, which civil society said was interrupted when Said took full power in 2021 and changed the country’s political and constitutional system before reconfirming his mandate in the October 2024 presidential election. EFE
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