Lawyers go on strike in Tunisia

Tunisian lawyers decided, on Sunday evening, to go on a general strike in all the country’s courts on Monday, to protest the security forces’ storming of the Bar Association headquarters in the centre of the capital and the arrest of a female lawyer.

The President of the Bar Association, Hatem Meziou, announced in a press statement to the official Tunisian News Agency, following an emergency meeting held on Sunday, the implementation of a national general strike, on Monday, by the legal sector in all the country’s courts.

This general strike, according to Meziou, comes against the backdrop of “a security squad storming the headquarters of the Tunisian Bar Association on Saturday evening, to enforce an arrest warrant against lawyer Sonia Dahmani.

Meziou condemned what he considered “a storming of the Association’s headquarters and a blatant violation”, demanding Dahmani’s “immediate” release.

He stressed that the necessary complaints will be filed “against everyone who attacked the Bar Association headquarters”, stressing that “the Bar Association Council will remain in permanent session to follow up on the situation.”

On Friday, Dahmani received a summons to appear before the investigating judge at the Court of First Instance on the grounds that she made sarcastic statements, regarding a speech by Tunisian President, Kais Saied, in which he said that irregular African immigrants are planning to remain in Tunisia.

Last Monday, during a meeting of the National Security Council, Saied reiterated his assertion that his country will not be a land for the settlement of irregular immigrants and is working on not being a crossing point for them. He called on the northern Mediterranean countries to bear their responsibilities towards them.

Tunisia has been witnessing a noticeable escalation in the pace of irregular migration to Europe, especially towards the coast of Italy, due to the repercussions of the economic and political crises in the country and other African countries, especially sub-Saharan Africa.

READ: Tunisia expels 400 sub-Saharan African migrants