UN experts accuse Tunisia of targeting lawyers
The special rapporteurs cited several cases of lawyers who they said had been prosecuted and even imprisoned over cases they had pleaded or statements they had made.
'Targeting legal professionals solely for performing their role in the justice system or exercising their freedom of expression poses a direct threat to the integrity and fairness of legal proceedings in Tunisia,' the experts said in a joint statement.
They cited the case of lawyer Ahmed Souab, who was detained on terrorism-related charges in April after claiming that judges were under political pressure to hand opposition figures hefty sentences in a recent mass trial.
The experts said this and several other cases they detailed 'appear designed to ensure critics of the executive are silenced'.
President Kais Saied, elected in 2019, has ruled Tunisia by decree since a 2021 power grab.
The UN experts urged Tunisia to see that 'lawyers should be able to carry out all their professional duties without intimidation, hindrance, harassment or improper interference'.
They said they had informed the Tunisian government of their concerns.
The statement was issued by Margaret Satterthwaite, special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, and Irene Khan, special rapporteur on the right to freedom of expression and opinion.
UN special rapporteurs are independent experts mandated by the Human Rights Council to report their findings. They do not speak for the United Nations itself.
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