A Tunisian suffering from mental impairment died recently in detention, arousing indignation and concern about the treatment of vulnerable people in the Tunisian judicial system. According to the testimony of lawyer Mohamed Daoudi who followed the file, his client, interned since 2010 at the Razi psychiatric hospital, was wrongly involved in a drug trafficking case.
“The defendant could not control himself and had no involvement in the case,” said the lawyer. However, from the police instruction, no mention of his handicap was added to the file, and he was never heard on the facts which were criticized for him. On September 29, 2025, a deposit warrant was issued against him, without even a prior interrogation.
During his detention, the man did not receive care, food or his medication. The conditions were as he was attached and suffered significant injuries. The lawyer has multiplied the steps with the investigating judge and the prosecutor to request a transfer to a medical establishment, by invoking the 1992 law on vulnerable persons. But the judicial authorities have systematically refused or delayed the examination of his situation, according to the lawyers of the lawyer.
On October 3, the lawyer still submitted a request for an urgent medical examination, but the judge replied that he was “not competent” to process the request. Two days later, the man in question died in prison.
This case illustrates the persistent difficulties of the Tunisian judicial system, particularly since the death sentence pronounced against another citizen for a post on social networks. Observers denounce a lack of training on the rights of vulnerable persons and an appeal limited to alternative measures to incarceration for prisoners with mental disorders.
