Tunisian Observatory of Rights and Freedoms: ‘More than 500 citizens under house arrest’

A Tunisian human rights observatory announced, on Wednesday, that more than 500 citizens have been under house arrest for various periods, either on suspicion of terrorism or corruption since the state of emergency was imposed in the country in 2015.

This came in statements made by lawyer Anouar Ouled Ali, head of the Observatory of Rights and Freedoms in Tunisia (a non-governmental human rights organisation), during a press conference held in the capital.

Ouled Ali explained that these individuals were placed under house arrest without specifying a time limit.

He added that placing the detainees under house confinement was carried out under Presidential Order No. 50 of 1978, which was issued by the late President Habib Bourguiba (ruled Tunisia from 1957 to 1987) to regulate the state of emergency, and is still in effect.

Ouled Ali said that the ongoing state of emergency since 2015 led to exerting “more pressure on more than 100.000 Tunisian citizens, whose freedom of movement has been restricted using the imposed border regulations, in addition to violating their personal information and denying them the ability to extract several administrative documents.”

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He went on “the state of emergency also contributed to further breaching citizens’ personal spaces, and terrorising people in their homes by carrying out night raids without having judicial permissions, in addition to banning several activities, meetings, and demonstrations and restricting the work of many associations.”

The Observatory of Rights and Freedoms demanded President, Kais Saied, not to renew the state of emergency, which ends on 31 December, considering that “the president’s integrity will be tangibly tested, especially as he previously confirmed that the emergency law is unconstitutional and useless.”

For his part, the Observatory’s executive director, Marwan Jedda, affirmed that “the imposition of the state of emergency is intended to take revenge of political and ideological opponents and achieve fake acts of heroism.”

During the same press conference, Jedda called on the parliament to enact a basic law to regulate the state of emergency by passing the necessary legislation for exceptional cases without prejudice to fundamental rights and freedoms.

It was not possible to get an immediate comment from the Tunisian authorities concerning the statements issued by Observatory of Rights and Freedoms’ officials.

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On 24 November 2015, the late Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi declared a state of emergency in the country, following the terrorist attack, which targeted a bus transporting members of the Presidential Security, in Tunis, leading to the death of 12 security personnel and the injury of 17 others.

Last Wednesday, Tunisian Minister of the Interior Hichem Fourati said, in a press statement on the sidelines of the 43rd Conference of Arab Police and Security Leaders held in Tunis, that “300 people are placed under house arrest in Tunisia.”

Fourati explained that house arrest does not mean strictly limiting the movement of the detainee to restricted location as there are some exceptions for professional reasons.