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Ridha Belhaj

Detained

Card Contents

About

Affiliation
Political activist and former leader in the Nidaa Tounes party and a leader in the National Salvation Front, which opposes Kais Saied.

Date of birth
February 16, 1962

Profession
Lawyer and former director of the office of the President of the Republic of Tunisia

Nationality
Tunisian

Date Targeted

February 25, 2023

Current Status

Detained

Charges

Conspiracy against the internal and external security of the state

Cases and Violations

Judicial authority
Anti-terrorism Judicial Pole

Case details

  • January 2, 2023: Belhaj said on his Facebook page, “The head of the Lawyers’ Branch (the Bar Association) informed me that I was being referred, together with the head of the (Salvation) Front, to investigation.”
  • February 24, 2023: He was arrested late at night.
  • February 25, 2023: The investigating judge at the Anti-Terrorism Judicial Pole issued a prison order against him
  • 22nd March 2023: The families of a number of detainees, including Belhaj, submitted a request to the UK Government asking for sanctions to be imposed on Kais Saied (President of the Republic of Tunisia, Head of State, Head of Government and Commander-in-chief of the Tunisian Armed Forces, 23 October 2019 – present); Ridha Gharsallaoui (Former Acting Interior Minister, 29 July 2021 – 11 October 2021); Taoufik Charfeddine (Interior Minister, 11 October 2021 – 18 March 2023); Kamel Feki (Interior Minister, 18 March – present); Leïla Jaffel (Justice Minister, 11 October 2021 – present); and Imed Memmich (Minister of National Defense, 11 October 2021 –  present). The sanctions request was made on behalf of: Noureddine Bhiri, Judge Bechir Akremi, Said Ferjani MP, Ghazi Chaouachi, Issam Chebbi, Chaima Issa, Ridha Belhaj, Rached Ghannouchi, and the deceased opposition party member Ridha Bouzayene.
  • 26th April 2023: An application for sanctions was filed at the EU.
  • July 13, 2023: The indictment chamber of the Tunisian Court of Appeal decided to reject the defense’s request regarding the release of Jaouhar Ben Mbarek, Issam Chebbi, Mohamed Khayam Al-Turki, Abdelhamid Jelassi, Ridha Belhaj and Ghazi Chaouachi.
  • August 22, 2023: The investigating judge in the anti-terrorism judicial pole in Tunisia decided to extend the imprisonment of 6 opposition detainees for another 4 months, pending investigation into the case of conspiracy against state security, including Ridha Belhaj. The defense team for the defendants said that it appealed the investigating judge’s decision to the indictment chamber, which will consider it and either approve or overturn it.
  • September 21, 2023: The indictment chamber of the Court of Appeal in Tunis refused to release the defendants in the “conspiracy against state security” case, in response to the appeal submitted against the investigating judge’s decision to extend the period of pre-trial detention for a number of politicians, including Ridha Belhaj.
  • October 2, 2023 – Ridha  Belhaj 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 Belhaj, 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 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 Belhaj.

Violations

  • Right to a fair trial: Lawyer Samir Dilou confirmed, in a post on his Facebook page, that “At seven fifty-five in the morning of Saturday, February 25, 2023, and after 15 hours of interrogations and pleadings, and after issuing 3 prison warrants, we became convinced that the fate of each of Issam Chebbi, Jaouhar Ben Mbarek, Chaima Issa, and (fellow lawyers) Ghazi Chaouachi and Ridha Belhaj, is 5 additional prison orders, without legal or realistic justification, so we decided to withdraw” (Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed).
  • 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 facebook 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.