Skip links

Yassine Ayari

Prosecuted and sentenced to prison; currently outside Tunisia

Card Contents

About

Position
Political activist and former member of the House of People’s  Representatives (Hope and Action Movement)

Date of Birth
August 26, 1981

Profession
Blogger, political activist, former MP, IT engineer

Nationality
Tunisian

Date Targeted

July 30, 2023

Current Status

Prosecuted and sentenced to prison; currently outside Tunisia

Charges

  1. Undermining the reputation of the army.
  2. Committing an offensive act against the President of the Republic and undermining the morale of the army.

Cases and Violations

Case 1:

Charge
Undermining the reputation of the army

Judicial authority
Military

Details of the case
The case dates back to 2018, when the military court sentenced Ayari to 3 months in prison on June 26, 2018, because of a Facebook post criticizing the army.

July 30, 2021: Member of Parliament Yassine Ayari was arrested by a group of plan-clothes individuals without providing proof of their identities, according to what his wife confirmed to Shems FM radio. Ayari’s wife said that the individuals presented themselves as presidential security guards. He spent two months in Mornaguia prison for the case dating back to 2018, after the President of the Republic’s decision on July 25, 2021, to suspend the work of the House of Representatives and lift parliamentary immunity from all its members.

Case 2:

Charge
Committing an offensive act against the President of the Republic and harming the morale of the army.

Judicial authority
Military

The charges relate to Facebook posts after July 2021 in which Ayari described Kais Saied’s decisions as a “coup,” according to a statement from the Hope and Action Movement.

Details of the case
MP Yassine Ayari said on Monday, November 22, 2021, in a post on his Facebook page, that “the hearing in the military case brought against me by the coup has been postponed, a case related to blogs I published on July 25, 26, and 27 (an offensive act against the President of the Republic and harming the morale of the army) until February 14, 2022.”
Ayari wrote that he had gone to France for treatment, that the defense presented the court with a copy of the medical file, and that he was being treated for “the effects of the systematic maltreatment to which he was unjustly subjected during his imprisonment,” according to him. In the same post, he mentioned that he was going for treatment in France and not in Tunisia because “I do not have the right to receive treatment in my country. The health insurance has been suspended, by a higher order.” What is referred is the suspension of the right to the National Health Insurance Fund for all members of Parliament by a decision of the President of the Republic, Kais Saied, as previously confirmed and revealed to by other MPs who needed treatment.

February 18, 2022: Criminal Council of the Permanent Military Court in Tunisia ruled, following the hearing on February 14, 2022, “a total of 10 months’ imprisonment against the representative of the “Hope and Action” movement in the suspended parliament, Yassine Ayari,” for “violating the dignity of the army thus undermining its fighting morale, attributing false matters to a public employee, committing an offensive act against the President of the Republic, and insulting others via social media”.

عربية
Français
Icon-x Facebook Instagram Tiktok Youtube

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.