Tunisian human rights activists raise a “cry of terror” after suspending the activities of 17 organizations news

Non-governmental human rights organizations in Tunisia launched a “cry of terror” after several associations announced that the authorities had temporarily suspended their activities, according to what was announced by the Tunisian League for the Defense of Human Rights.

The Tunisian League for the Defense of Human Rights described these measures as a policy aimed at “eliminating civil society” and “restricting free and critical voices.”

The president of the association, Bassam Al-Tarifi, said – in a press conference – that these decisions do not include “opposition parties working in politics,” but rather associations whose “role is to support the state’s efforts in areas that it has not been able to reach.”

Human rights non-governmental organizations in Tunisia warn of a sharp decline in civil liberties since President Kais Saied’s decision to monopolize the country’s powers in July 2021. Many opponents of Saied have been imprisoned, some of them on charges of “spreading false news” or “conspiring against state security.”

A source – who requested anonymity – confirmed to Agence France-Presse earlier that at least 17 non-governmental organizations had received decisions to suspend their activities for a month in recent months.

These measures included some of the long-established organizations in the country, such as the “Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights” and the “Tunisian Association for Democratic Women,” before the work of the office of the “World Organization against Torture” in Tunisia was later suspended.

The activity of the news websites “Inkifada” and “Nawaat” was also temporarily suspended, according to the National Syndicate of Tunisian Journalists. These organizations express their fear that the authority’s next step will be a final solution.

The head of the Tunisian Journalists Syndicate, Ziad Dabbar, said that this comes within the framework of “a terrible spread of hate speech against opponents” in Tunisia, adding that “the editorial line of the media is disturbing the authorities.”

Dabbar added, “This decision cannot be talked about in isolation from the political context, which is characterized by tense rhetoric toward parties and civil society organizations.”

Last month, the Journalists Syndicate warned of an “escalation in censorship” and an “unprecedented rise in threats” against press freedom in Tunisia.

Since the Tunisian revolution in 2011, the issue of financing non-governmental organizations has been a topic of frequent debate and debate. In recent years, Tunisian President Kais Saied has been accusing non-governmental organizations of receiving “imaginary sums of money from abroad,” considering that they are “for blatant political purposes.”