Five humanitarian workers, including a former senior UN executive of Tunisian-Swiss origin, went on trial on Monday, November 24, in Tunis, for facilitating the illegal entry of migrants into the country. This is the first trial of this type in Tunisia. Two of the defendants were given lighter sentences than expected, and three others benefited from having their charges dropped, according to judicial sources.
Mustapha Djemali, 81, also a Swiss citizen and founder of the Tunisian Refugee Council (CTR), Abderrazek Krimi, CTR project manager – jailed for a year and a half – as well as three other defendants who appear to be free, were accused “creation of an organization” intended for “facilitate secret entry” and to “host” migrant.
The two detainees, Mustapha Djemali and Abderrazek Krimi, were sentenced to two years in prison but, having served most of their sentences after approximately twenty months in detention, they “will be released tonight”their lawyer, Mounira Ayadi, told Agence France-Presse (AFP). Three other CTR employees benefited from the dismissal of the case, according to Mᵉ Ayadi.
All the lawyers pleaded by explaining that CTR was successful “exclusive partnership” and as part of a “legal agreement” with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Tunisia to seek emergency accommodation for asylum seekers and refugees.
“We are very happy, the sentence is still unfair, but we are very relieved that the sentence is rather light”reacts to AFP Yusra Djemali, one of the daughters of President CTR. “He still has about four months remaining on his probation, but the important thing is that he can get out of prison tonight.”he added.
“We hoped for and remain committed to the acquittal, but the court chose to stay in the middle: imposing a sentence while reducing the sentence” while the defendants face more than ten years in detention, Mᵉ Ayadi told AFP.
The trial is symbolic for Tunisian civil society
At Monday’s hearing, Mr Djemali, UNHCR’s senior regional official for more than twenty years, emotionally defended his actions, and stressed that the association was dealing with the issues at hand. “asylum seekers, without any connection to illegal immigration”.
CTR works “under the supervision of the High Commission” to accommodate “migrants rescued at sea” by the authorities, he stressed, before asking through teary eyes: “Why am I here?” ». Stressing at work “in humanitarian work for over forty years”he added: “We have not formed any gangs or agreements. »
Mr. Krimi asked a similar question: “Why were we detained for twenty months? ». CTR provides assistance “Vulnerable cases, children, women victims of sexual violence and the elderly”he argued, sure he had “acting based on national duty and coordinating with the authorities”.
Shortly before the hearing, the American NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on Monday “Tunisian authorities will drop baseless charges, release detainees and stop criminalizing legitimate work” association. “CTR has undertaken important protection efforts in support of refugees and asylum seekers, operating legally with international organizations accredited in Tunisia”urged Bassam Khawaja, HRW’s deputy regional director, in a press release from the NGO.
A tense political context and declining rights
The two detained men were arrested in May 2024, along with around ten other humanitarian workers such as Sherifa Riahi, leader of the Terre d’Asile association, and anti-racist activist Saadia Mosbah of the NGO Mnemty, on suspicion of facilitating the illegal entry of migrants. Activist Terre d’Asile’s trial will begin on December 15.
Tunisian and foreign NGOs deplore the deterioration of rights and freedoms in Tunisia since the coup carried out by President Kais Saied in the summer of 2021, through which he seized full power.
In February 2023, Saied condemned the arrival in a scathing speech “hordes of sub-Saharan migrants” threatens, according to him, to “changing demographic composition” country. In the following weeks, thousands of sub-Saharan citizens, who had lost their jobs and housing, were immediately sent back to their countries or took to the sea clandestinely to leave Tunisia. Others were driven to the desert bordering Algeria and Libya, where at least a hundred of them died.
