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Abdelhamid Jelassi

In detention

Card Contents

About

Position/Party/Association
Former leading members of the Ennahdha Party

Year of birth
1960

Profession
Engineer and politician

Nationality
Tunisian

Date Targeted

February 11, 2023

Current Status

In detention

Charges

Conspiracy against state security (participation in group to attack state security)

Cases and Violations

There is one case against him

Jelassi is in detention on the basis of 10 articles of the Tunisian Penal Code – including Article 72, which stipulates the death penalty for attempting to “change the body of the state” – and more than 12 articles of the 2014 anti-terrorism law.

Saied described the detainees in this case as “terrorists” and accused them of conspiring to undermine the state and manipulating food prices to incite social tension, in a video-recorded statement published on February 14, 2023, on his official page on Facebook.

Judicial authority
Anti-terrorism Judicial pole

Procedures and breaches
February 11, 2023: His home was raided, and he was arrested and taken to an unknown destination by the Anti-Terrorism Police (Amnesty).

According to Maryam Jelassi, the daughter of detained politician Abdelhamid Jelassi, 12 members of the security forces stormed the family home on the evening of February 11, detained her father, and confiscated his mobile phone and computer, in addition to her mother’s mobile phone. The security force did not explain the reason for searching the house and detaining her father or the place to which he will be transferred.

Authorities initially prevented lawyers from meeting with him under the 2015 anti-terrorism law.

According to his lawyers, the police interrogated him about a meeting with foreign visitors held in a restaurant and radio interviews in which he criticized Kais Saied. Jelassi refused to answer police questions due to the absence of a lawyer.

February 24, 2023: The investigating judge at the Anti-Terrorism Judicial Pole issued a detention warrant against Jelassi in the case.

July 13, 2023: The indictment chamber of the Tunisian Court of Appeal decided to reject the defense’s request regarding the release of Abdelhamid Jelassi, Issam Chebbi, Khayam Al-Turki, Ridha Belhaj, Ghazi Chaouachi, and Jawhar Ben Mbarek in the so-called “conspiracy” case against state security.

March 23, 2023: The Indictment Chamber decided to postpone consideration of the request to release Jelassi and all of the opposition politicians and activists Chaima Issa, Jawhar Ben Mulbarek, Issam Chebbi, Khayam Al-Turki, Ghazi Chaouachi, Ridha Belhaj and Lazhar Lakremi, after the defense submitted a request for bail to the competent indictment chamber.

August 13, 2023: The “Detained Political Leaders Defense Committee” in the so-called “conspiracy” case announced in a statement published on its official Facebook account that Abdelhamid Jelassi had suffered a severe health crisis caused his kidneys, which required his transfer to the hospital on more than one occasion only for tests and painkillers and nothing more. The doctor in charge of his case confirmed the necessity of carrying out more urgent tests before determining the nature of the treatment and intervention, but this has not been done to date. The Committee called on the administration of the Mornaguia Prison to expedite the conduct of these examinations in view of the continuous deterioration of the detainee’s health condition. The Committee stated that “the average age of prisoners in the conspiracy case exceeds 60 years, with most of them suffering from chronic diseases, in addition to being exposed to health problems in prison where they have been detained for over 6 months.”

August 22, 2023: The investigating judge in the anti-terrorism judicial pole in Tunisia decided to extend the imprisonment of 6 opponents for another 4 months, pending investigation into the case of conspiracy against state security, including Abdelhamid Jelassi. The defendants’ defense team said that it appealed the investigating judge’s decision to the indictment chamber, which will consider it and either approve or refute it.

October 2, 2023 – Jelassi started a hunger strike: The Defense Committee for Detainees said that political leaders Issam Chebbi, Abdelhamid Jelassi, Ghazi Chaouachi, Khayam Al-Turki, and Ridha Belhaj informed the committee that they “would be on a hunger strike starting Monday morning, in protest against the continuing judicial farce judicial used by the authorities to deprive them of their freedom for many months without providing any evidence for the accusations brought against them, and to demand an end to the injustice imposed on them and their release.”

October 12, 2023: The “Detained Political Leaders’ Defense Committee in Tunisia” in what is known as the “Conspiracy Against State Security Case” confirmed that political prisoner Jaouhar Ben Mbarek and his fellow hunger strikers agreed to suspend their strike after several appeals were sent to them by human rights and political organizations.

November 22, 2023: The Indictment Chamber of the Court of Appeal decided to reject all requests for the release of detainees, including Jelassi, as well as a request to lift the travel ban on one of the defendants in the same case and to repeal the order banning him from appearing in public places.

December 21, 2023: The investigating judge at the Anti-Terrorism Judicial Pole decided to extend the pre-trial detention of the defendants in the conspiracy case for an additional 4 months.

January 11, 2024: The indictment chamber responsible for examining terrorism cases at the Court of Appeal in Tunis issued a decision supporting the decision of the investigating judge at the Anti-Terrorism Judicial Pole to extend the pretrial detention for an additional period of 4 months against defendants detained in connection with what is known as the case of “conspiring against the security of the State”, including Jelassi

Breaches
Lawyer Dalila Msaddek, a member of the defense team for political prisoners in Tunisia in what is known as the “conspiracy against state security” case, stated in her intervention on EFM radio (local) on Wednesday, August 16, 2023, that no new evidence had been presented. The detainees have not even been heard by a judge since February 25, despite the long period of detention, adding: “The charges against the detainees have remained merely empty headlines with no content or substance.”

Intersection Association for Rights and Liberties, Wednesday, August 16, 2023, stated that “all this time has passed without any new developments in the case or the receipt of new evidence convicting the accused, nor even the issuance of any ruling convicting them, which expresses a blatant violation of the right to a fair trial. In addition to this, Abdelhamid Jelassi’s health condition is one of the cases that requires periodic follow-up and special circumstances.”

 “Intersection” Association for Rights and Liberties confirmed, on Wednesday, August 16, 2023, that Jelassi’s health condition had worsened, knowing that he was suffering from cancer and his health condition required intensive care, adding that “the prison conditions contributed to the deterioration of Jelassi’s health condition, as he shares a cell with inmates who smoke, while his health condition cannot bear it, and that passive smoking is also considered dangerous for a man in his sixties who is still recovering from cancer.” In the same regard, the association recalled that “all laws related to places of detention stipulate the necessity of protecting prisoners and providing them with all appropriate conditions.” It stressed that “it is imperative for the authorities to provide appropriate and effective health care to detainees, including regular examination and treatment for diseases and injuries. This is what Tunisian prisons must adhere to and guarantee to all prisoners on an equal footing,” according to the text of the statement.

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Call to Action

Website petition: Freedom for prisoners of conscience and activists in Tunisia!

Tunisia is no longer the Arab exception that inspired the world in 2011 with a heroic revolution that overthrew the rule of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who ruled for nearly 23 years after seizing power on November 7, 1987, in a coup against Habib Bourguiba.

In a similar and perhaps more dangerous move, on the night of July 25, 2021, Tunisian President Kais Saied carried out a “constitutional coup” in accordance with his personal interpretation of Article 80 of the 2014 Revolutionary Constitution, announcing that he had taken a set of exceptional measures due to the “imminent danger” that threatens Tunisia without providing any details or reasons.

In accordance with these measures, Saied dismissed the government and the prime minister Hichem Mechichi who was present at the National Security Council that night at the Carthage Palace, and claimed that he had contacted the Speaker of Parliament Rached Ghannouchi (leader of the Ennahdha party) to consult with him in accordance with what is stipulated by the constitution, a claim which Ghannouchi denied since the call was general and did not include anything about exceptional measures or any consultation on the matter. The president suspended Parliament and later dissolved it in March 2022.

Not only did Saied seek to bypass his powers and the articles of the Constitution, which he swore to protect before the Assembly of the Representatives of the People, but he went on to dismiss and change the composition of the Supreme Judicial Council after redefining the judiciary it as a “function” rather than an independent authority. He further replaced members of the Supreme Electoral Commission in preparation for the referendum he held in order to vote on a constitution that he wrote himself after dismissing the proposals of the drafting committee he had himself appointed. Then legislative elections were held over two rounds, in which the participation rate did not exceed 8% of the total number of voters, with the Election Commission later announcing that it had reached 11%, which is the lowest participation rate in Tunisia and globally.

On February 11, President Saied’s regime launched a campaign of protests that has not stopped since, against political leaders, media figures, journalists, judges and senior officials and civil servants, for charges of “conspiring against the security of the state and committing an offensive act against the President of the Republic,” in addition to other charges that were referred to the military prosecution, leading one to wonder about the implication of the Tunisian army in the actions taken by Saied.

The arbitrary arrests were marred by several procedural violations amid criticism from prominent international organizations and observatories in the field of human rights. The standards of litigation and detention period and conditions were not respected. Prosecution and harassment sometimes extended to the detainees’ families, and no evidence, and in many cases, no charges against them were presented.

Moreover trade unions and political parties continue to be subjected to constant harassment and restrictions. Saied continues to target all “intermediary bodies” accusing them of “collaboration” or “treason”. Civil society associations have also been subjected to prosecution, arbitrary arrests and deprivation from representation, in a context of of increasing violence in society due to the authorities’ adoption of racist and discriminatory speeches and rhetoric inciting infighting and violating human dignity.

In light of the above, we, the undersigned, demand the following:

Call for the immediate release of all political detainees, immediately and unconditionally. We also urge the Tunisian authorities to recognize the national and the international human rights treaties they have ratified.
Call on the Tunisian authorities to stop dismantling the nascent democracy and put an end to unfair trials and prosecutions against political opponents of the regime and anyone who criticises it.
Call on all activists and observers to join the national movement for restoring democracy and ending authoritarian rule that has taken Tunisia back to despotism, injustice, and violations of rights and freedoms.