Their names are Cherifa Riahi, Saadia Mosbah, Sonia Dahmani, Chaima Issa, Chadha Hadj Mbarek, Leila Kallel, Mariem Sassi, Abir Moussi. They are politicians, journalists and grassroots activists. And they are languishing in prison.
These women are among many others who have been exiled or subjected to legal threats, including Bochra Bel Haj Hmida, Ghofrane Binous, Fatma Ezzahra Ltifi, Feryel Charfeddine, Arroi Baraket, Amel Aloui, and Wifek Miri, to name a few.
“This is an unprecedented situation for women,” reports Nabila Hamza, member of the executive bureau of the Tunisian Association of Women Democrats (ATFD) during a press conference organized by the Feminist Dynamic (Dynamique féministe) on July 24.
The Feminist Dynamic brings together several civil society organizations that advocate for women’s rights, including the ATFD, Aswat Nissa, Beity, the Association for Women and Citizenship of Kef, Amal for Families and Children, Calam, the Association Tawhida Ben Cheikh and Intersection for Rights and Freedoms. These associations call for the immediate release of women who have been imprisoned for their activism, and for the suspension of lawsuits against all activists.
During its press conference on July 24, the Dynamic announced the launching of a campaign for the release of female prisoners being held on account of their activism in the public space. Participating associations are committed to defending all victims of the system in place, without exception.
In the context of its campaign (to be held from July 25 through August 13, 2024) the Feminist Dynamic urges all political, civil, union, cultural, academic, progressive and democratic forces to mobilize within their respective areas of action. On August 13, National Day of Tunisian Women, the campaign will end with a demonstration in front of the municipal theater of Tunis.
A political climate hostile to women
Legal charges against the women in question have the clear objective of “reducing women’s voices to silence,” says Sarah Ben Saied, executive director of the association Aswat Nissa. As explained by Ghofrane Friji, researcher with the organization Intersection for Rights and Freedoms, investigations into the cases of these women are “empty.” Intersection monitors violations committed against rights and freedoms in Tunisia. “These are arbitrary and groundless accusations,” Friji remarks.
The regime headed by President Kais Saied seeks to stifle dissenting voices and presumed critics of the government. Accusations against women activists range from “defamation” to “threat to state security” to “money laundering.”
Sarah Ben Saied evokes a “systematic” policy designed to silence the opposition, whether political, civil or union-driven. “It has unfolded in a context characterized by cyber violence against women who are active in the public sphere. The latter are constantly threatened and insulted on social media. The goal is to prevent them from participating in public debates,” she says.
The Feminist Dynamic illustrated the magnitude of injustice committed against activist women through testimonies shared by Ramla Dahmani, sister of imprisoned lawyer and media figure Sonia Dahmani, and the former mayor of Tabarka, Amel Aloui. Dahmani and Aloui’s sentences were based on Decree-law 54.
Paradoxically, it is women—such as former Prime Minister Najla Bouden, or current Justice Minister Leila Jaffel—who are implementing Saied’s repressive policies. It comes as no surprise that they would play such a role, affirms long-time feminist activist Sana Ben Achour.
Women are not born feminists; feminism is a political consciousness which these women are lacking.
Sana Ben Achour
She adds: “They reproduce and consolidate the very patriarchal system of oppression which represses them. They are instruments. These women are the enemies of other women.”
In contrast, the current regime regards feminism as an elitist movement. Seen in this light, women activists have no legitimacy, Nabila Hamza points out.
Regression at different levels
Beyond adopting discourse which opposes equality between men and women, Saied has consolidated his ideology by undermining gains that women in Tunisia have long battled to achieve.
By making reference to religion in the 2022 Constitution and renouncing parity, the president has acted on his threats against women’s rights, according to feminist activist Fathia Saidi. This much is evident in the regression of women’s representation in politics.
In 2017, an amendment to the electoral code mandated that one half of the candidates presented for leadership by political parties during local elections be women. This legal text enabled the establishment of municipal councils in which women represented 47% of seats filled during the 2018 elections.
The new electoral code replaced the former system of proportional representation with the uninominal vote, without requiring parity in the representation of men and women during elections.
The result: today’s parliament is dominated by men, with only 25 women versus 129 men currently serving as deputies. That ratio is 10 to 67 within the National Council of Regions and Districts.
“Saied has buried all debates on equality between men and women in parliamentary and local commissions,” notes Nabila Hamza, who explains that the regime is hindering the emergence of model figures of women in politics who have the capacity to inspire future generations. “He wants to restrict women to the private sphere.”
Imprisonment, lawsuits and threats targeting women activists are trends that have emerged in a climate of general precarity for women.
“Women agricultural workers are still dying on the road, the number of women murdered is alarming, the state refuses to apply Law 58 on the elimination of violence against women,” says Nabila Hamza. Now more than ever, advocates of women’s rights are compelled to fight on all fronts.
In suppressing freedom of expression for women, the regime is also suppressing possibilities to address and defend other issues such as women’s socio-economic, sexual and reproductive rights.
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