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Khayam Turki

Detained

About

Position / Party / Association: Political activist and former leader of the Ettakatol Party

Year of birth: April 1965

Profession: Financial expert and analyst

Nationality: Tunisian/Spanish

Lawyer: Abdelaziz Essid

Date Targeted

March 11, 2023

Current Status

Detained

Charges

Participation in a group intended to alter the nature of the state and conspiracy against the internal security of the state.

Cases and Violations

Conspiracy case (1)

Turki is being held under 10 articles of the Tunisian Penal Code – including Article 72, which provides for the death penalty for attempting to “change the nature of the state” and over 12 articles of the 2015 anti-terrorism law.

Incident: In a video-recorded speech published on February 14, 2023 on the official Facebook page of the Presidency of the Republic, President Kais Saied described the detainees in the so-called conspiracy case as “terrorists” and accused them of conspiring to undermine the state and manipulate food prices to stir up social tension.
https://www.facebook.com/Presidence.tn/videos/609398257754747

Competent judicial authority: Judicial Anti-terrorism pole

Procedures and violations: February 11, 2023: Khayam Al-Turki’s home was raided, and be was arrested and taken to an unknown destination by the and anti-terrorism police.

Abdelaziz Essid, Al-Turki’s lawyer, said that his client’s house was raided and searched at dawn by security agents who did not disclose the security agency that assigned them to carry out the raid, highlighting that his client was taken to an unknown destination and without the knowledge of the Public Prosecution.

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

A judge in the anti-terrorism judicial branch, which is investigating him, interrogated him about his meetings with the rest of the defendants and with foreign diplomats. The evidence presented against the detainees in the case includes messages on their mobile phones about conversations with foreigners, including diplomats, as well as messages exchanged between the defendants about the possibility of mobilizing opposition to what they called President Saied’s “coup.” All of these acts are protected by the rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly, which the Tunisian authorities are obligated to respect under international human rights law.
February 24, 2023: The investigating judge at the Anti-Terrorism Judicial Pole issued 3 detention warrants against Turki. Lawyer Samir Dilou indicated that the defense team decided to boycott hearings due to the absence of the most basic conditions for a fair trial, explaining that it had become clear that the decisions had been made in advance and that the presence of lawyers was merely attempting to add lefitimacy to what was happening, according to him.

March 10, 2023: Al-Turki went on a brutal hunger strike with a number of detainees in the conspiracy case due to what they said was a “policy of abuse” to which they were subjected inside the prison.

July 10, 2023: The indictment chamber of the Tunisian Court of Appeal decided to reject the defense’s request regarding the release of Khayam Al-Turki, Issam Chebbi, Abdelhamid Jelassi, Ridha Belhaj, Ghazi Chaouachi, and Jawhar Ben Mbarek.

September 20, 2023: The indictment chamber responsible for examining terrorism cases at the Tunisian Court of Appeal ruled “to reject in principle” the appeal filed before it against the decision of the investigating judge at the Financial Judicial Pole to extend the precautionary detention for a period of four months against the defendants detained pending trial in the case related to forming a group for the purpose of conspiracy against state security, including Khayam Al-Turki. The Indictment Chamber also decided to “reject in form” the demands for the release of the detained defendants and to return the case file to the investigating judge at the Anti-Terrorism Judicial Pole for further investigation.

September 28, 2023: The first investigating judge in the 36th Office of the Anti-Terrorism Judicial Pole issued a decision prohibiting media coverage of the two suspected cases of conspiracy against state security, including the Khayam al-Turki case.

Breaches: Very poor living conditions: Lawyer Ines Harrath stated, in her Facebook post, after visiting Jawhar Ben Mbarek, Ridha Belhaj, Issam Chebbi, Ghazi Chaouachi, and Lazhar Akremi, and after meeting colleagues who visited Al-Turki, that they were “deprived of the right to wash and exercise, and they were transferred to extremely dirty rooms full of insects and not equipped with any sanitary facilities, as human needs must be relieved in a hole on the floor, in addition to depriving the prisoner of the most basic rights such as treatment,” she asserted. Ines Harath also considered that “there are orders from the regime to the prison administration to endanger the lives of political detainees by placing them with carefully selected common crime prisoners, most of whom were imprisoned for premeditated murder cases,” according to what was stated in her blog post.

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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.