After approximately twenty months of detention and a long legal battle, five leaders of the association âTunisia, land of asylumâ left prison following a two-year suspended sentence. The case has experienced multiple twists and turns since the first arrests until the final verdict rendered yesterday evening.
The Criminal Chamber of the Court of First Instance of Tunis put an end to one of the most controversial legal cases of the last two years by ordering the release of five officials of the association âTunisia, land of asylumâ, sentenced to two years in prison after a long period of preventive detention.
Chronology of a sensitive file
The affair breaks out in a context of hardening official discourse around the migration issue and the role of NGOs active in this area. An investigation has been opened into the activities of the âTunisia, land of asylumâ association, a local branch of an international organization working to support migrants and asylum seekers.
Several leaders of the association were arrested and then placed in pre-trial detention. The charges relate in particular to the constitution of a criminal association, abuse of office and obtaining undue advantages.
The case concerns the former president of the association Sherifa Riahi; the current president, Yadh Bousselmi, in office since 2023; Mohamed Ikbal Khaled, former mayor of the city of Sousse; Imen Ouardani, former deputy mayor of Sousse; and Mohamed Jouou.
Over the months, the investigation broadens and the case takes on both a judicial and political dimension. The defendants remain in detention, while their lawyers denounce a criminal reading of activities which they consider to be strictly humanitarian and consistent with the missions of the association.
The duration of preventive detention â which will eventually reach almost twenty months â itself becomes a subject of controversy in legal and associative circles.
Suspended sentence and release
The trial opens before the Criminal Chamber of the Court of First Instance of Tunis in a climate of strong media attention. The decision was finally made: the five responsible were each sentenced to two years in prison. This sentence, which is not accompanied by firm execution, results in their immediate release after nearly two years spent behind bars.
The court thus puts an end to the detention, while retaining the criminal responsibility of the accused.
A closed file, a debate far from over
Throughout the procedure, the âTunisia, land of asylumâ case went beyond the strict judicial framework to become a symbol of the debate on the place of humanitarian organizations in Tunisia, on the management of the migration file and on the limits between associative action and the legal framework.
Human rights organizations and several civil society actors have denounced what they consider to be a criminalization of humanitarian work, while the authorities have always maintained that this is a matter exclusively for justice.
If the verdict marks the legal end of this sequence, it does not close the substantive debate. The question of the role of NGOs, their legal framework and their relationship with the State remains more than ever at the heart of political and social tensions.
