On 1 August 2024, an investigating judge of the Economic and Financial Judicial Pole at the Tunis Court of First Instance remanded Bensedrine in pre-trial detention following her interrogation on charges of “forgery” of the 2019 final report of Tunisia’s Truth and Dignity Commission (the IVD).
البيان باللغة العربية على هذا الرابط
“Instead of fully implementing the IVD’s recommendations, the Tunisian authorities are targeting Sihem Bensedrine based on bogus charges, further demonstrating their intention to do away with the transitional justice process and the reforms for which it provided,” said Saïd Benarbia, Middle East and North Africa Director at the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ). “The Tunisian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release Sihem Bensedrine and drop all charges against her.”
Sihem Bensedrine is a prominent journalist and human rights defender, known for her activism under Ben Ali’s regime and vocal opposition to Kaïes Saïed’s systematic dismantling of the rule of law in Tunisia. Between 2014 and 2018, Bensedrine was the president of the IVD, which was established to document, and achieve accountability and redress for, human rights violations and corruption committed by State officials and their associates under the previous regimes since 1955.
Bensedrine and the IVD have been the object of several smear campaigns since the publication of the IVD’s final report. Bensedrine is also targeted by other criminal complaints purportedly arising from her alleged mismanagement of the IVD, and her “causing damage to the state”, despite a ten-month Court of Auditors’ investigation finding no evidence to substantiate these allegations.
On 2 March 2023, the investigating judge charged Bensedrine in the current case with “fraud”, “forgery” and “abuse of official capacity” further to accusations of having unduly added a section on corruption allegations in the Tunisian banking system to the IVD report’s final version. The judge also imposed a travel ban upon her. In May 2023, independent UN human rights experts expressed concern that Bensedrine’s prosecution appeared to be in retaliation for her work as IVD’s President, in particular, for the corruption cases the IVD had referred for prosecution.
In December 2018, the IVD concluded its work and transferred 205 cases of alleged human rights violations and corruption for prosecution before the 13 Specialized Criminal Chambers (SCC) in Tunisia. A number of these cases were connected to corruption within the banking sector, implicating 23 State officials, some of whom remained in office after former President Ben Ali’s 2011 removal.
Since 2019, the 205 cases before the SCC have faced significant delays. In 2022, President Kaïes Saïed arrogated to himself broad powers to interfere in the career and discipline of judges and prosecutors, which fundamentally undermined the independence of the judiciary in Tunisia. In 2023, the executive used these powers to arbitrarily rotate judges and prosecutors at the SCC, effectively stalling all cases before the SCC indefinitely.
The ICJ calls on the Tunisian authorities to immediately halt their efforts to delegitimize the transitional justice process in Tunisia, including through the bogus criminal prosecution of Bensedrine in connection with her work with the IVD, and guarantee the victims’ right to effective remedies for past gross human rights violations by ensuring that cases before the SCC proceed independently and impartially, in line with Tunisia’s obligations under international law.