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Chaïma Issa

Released on bail and placed under administrative control and banned from attending public gatherings and from travel

About

Position/Affiliation: Civil society activist and prominent member of the opposition coalition the National Salvation Front

Year of birth: 1980

Profession: Sociology researcher

Nationality: Tunisian

Date Targeted

February 22, 2023

Current Status

Released on bail and placed under administrative control and banned from attending public gatherings and from travel

Charges

Committing an offensive act against the President of the Republic and conspiring against the internal and external security of the state.

Cases and Violations

Judicial authority: Military Prosecutor and Counter-Terrorism Pole

Cases: Two cases against her

First case
The first case concerns a media statement she made on Mosaique FM, a private radio station.

Charges: The charges brought against Issa relate to inciting the military, by any means, to disobey the order, committing a brutal order against the head of state, and promoting and disseminating false news and rumors via networks and information and communication systems, with the aim of harming public security or national defense.

Second case

Charge: Conspiracy against internal and external state security. The investigation ordered the arrest of a total of 17 people as suspects.

Procedures:

  • 19 January 2023: Chaima Issa appeared before the Anti-Crime unit of the National Guard in Ben Arous on January 19 because of her opinions, and subsequently was banned from traveling.
  • 27 January 2023: Chaima Issa appeared before the Military Court of First Instance as a defendant due to her radio statement, and it was decided to keep her on bail.
  • February 22, 2023: Chaima Issa was arrested in front of her house in Tunis.
    Lawyer Samir Dilou said in a post on Facebook: “At this moment, Chaima Issa called me and informed me that her car had been surrounded by large numbers of security vehicles.”
  • February 25, 2023: The investigating judge interrogated Chaima Issa about a meeting with a US diplomat and written notes found in her home about mobilizing anti-Saied protests, according to the transcript of her judicial interrogation. (Amnesty)
    The investigating judge in the 36th Office of the Anti-Terrorism Judicial Pole issued a prison order against Chaima Issa in connection with the charge of conspiring against state security.
  • June 23, 2023: The investigating judge in Office 36 decided to release Issa in response to the defense’s request, but the Tunisian Public Prosecution appealed the decision, and she was not released.
  • July 13, 2023: The indictment chamber of the Tunisian Court of Appeal decided to accept the defense’s request regarding the release of Chaima Issa on bail, approximately five months after her imprisonment for the charge of “conspiring against state security.”
  • July 17, 2023: The indictment chamber responsible for examining terrorism cases at the Tunisian Court of Appeal decided to prevent Chaima Issa and lawyer Lazhar Akremi from traveling, and to prevent them from appearing in public places, according to the statement by the official spokesman for the Tunisian Court of Appeal, Habib Tarkhani, to Radio Mosaique. Tarkhani stated, “Following the Indictment Chamber’s decision issued on July 13, ordering the release of two defendants in what was known as the case of ‘conspiracy against internal state security,’ the Public Prosecution submitted a request to the Tunisian Court of Appeal to prevent them from traveling and from appearing in public places.” The indictment chamber approved the request the next day.

Violations: Lawyer Amine Boukar indicated that the searches, arrests, and raids that targeted Issam Chebbi and Chaima Issa all took place outside the framework of legal procedures, as he put it (in an interview with Al Jazeera).

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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.