President Saied’s migration alibi paves way for repression

As the war against irregular migration continues, a number of civil society figures have been arrested. Among them: Saadia Mosbah, anti-racism activist and founder of the association Mnemty, Sherifa Riahi, former executive director of Tunisie Terre d’Asile, and the vice president of the Tunisian Council for Refugees (CTR). The charges held against those in question are serious: money laundering and involvement with “criminal associations whose aim is to assist persons in gaining access to the Tunisian territory,” according to the office of the public prosecutor. These associations work with sub-Saharan migrants.

Rhetoric carries accusations of treason

When President Saied called for a national security council meeting on May 6, irregular migration and foreign funding for NGOs were at the top of the agenda. In an inquisitorial tone, Saied evoked “mercenaries” and “traitors” who “inflict harm upon the state in the name of freedom of expression.” He spoke of a plot designed to implant sub-Saharan Africans in the country, orchestrated by “individuals who received money in 2018 in order to bring irregular migrants into Tunisia.”

Saied launched into his diatribe against civil society, laying into organizations which offer assistance to migrants, and which he accuses of scheming to weaken the state. The president’s argument is based upon the publication of a call for tenders in a periodical issued by an association that serves migrants, and upon what he describes as “millions of dinars in funding from overseas.”

Saied’s accusatory rhetoric has blossomed against the backdrop of Tunisia’s ongoing migration crisis. For several days, residents of El Amra and Jebeniana, two small towns near to each other in the north of Sfax, have expressed outrage at the steady influx of sub-Saharan migrants into the country. A number of migrants have set up camp in the region’s olive groves.

This is not the first time that the president has used the issue of migration to launch an attack against his opponents, and civil society in particular. In August 2023, the migration crisis in Sfax presented an occasion for Saied to wage an offensive against the sector. Without citing the names of specific organizations, he vehemently criticized international and local NGOs’ position in the migration dilemma, accusing these bodies of inertia in extending care to migrants. “They pretend to protect migrants, however, the so-called protection they offer is limited to the publication of deceptive statements,” he claimed.

More recently, however, Saied has specifically called out two of these NGOs. According to the president, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the UN High Commission for Refugees (HCR) do nothing but publish official statements. Saied insists that these associations must cooperate with a single interlocutor: the Tunisian state. And even as he reproaches these bodies for “inertia” in carrying out their work, he denounces the assistance they provide to migrants.

Misinformation

Although caught in the president’s line of fire, the IOM and HCR are not opaque about their activities. When Nawaat reached out to the HCR for a special report on the Sudanese refugee camp located in the neighborhood of Lac 1 (Tunis), the organization provided us with details concerning their work with refugees.

Overwhelmed by the massive influx of migrants to Tunisia, especially Sudanese citizens fleeing the war in their country, the UN organization affirms that it “endeavors to ensure that refugees and asylum seekers are afforded protection in conformity with international law, including access to asylum procedures and basic services. Among others, these services entail shelter, legal assistance, psychosocial support and help towards autonomy, etc.”

As migrants themselves and other Tunisian associations relate, this basic assistance in the face of a catastrophic humanitarian crisis does not enable refugees to live comfortably in Tunisia, but merely to survive. In fact, the HCR is also an object of criticism among the country’s refugees and asylum seekers.

As for the IOM—accused of facilitating the implantation of migrants in Tunisia—the organization oversees a voluntary return program for foreign nationals to their countries of origin.

Under the umbrella of the United Nations, both organizations are backed by well-known funding sources. Tunisian authorities enjoy the benefit of visibility regarding the financial resources of these bodies, as they do for all associations which receive overseas funding. The IOM and HCR furthermore indicate that they operate in strict collaboration with authorities in managing the migration crisis.

Saied’s migration alibi

Kais Saied has kept a suspicious gaze fixed on Tunisia’s civil society for years. His misgivings about the role that this sector plays, and his obsession with its foreign funding, have been clear since his candidacy in the 2019 presidential elections. Overseas funding sources, however, are not exclusive to civil society, and indeed touch all sectors—including state institutions.

Stigmatized with the function of terrorism financing, civil society has been accused of criminal operations designed to alter the country’s demographic composition. While the pretext may change, the goal remains the same: reducing the civic space by instilling a climate of hostility towards civil society actors who criticize the current regime.

For months now, an amendment to Decree-law 88 has hovered doomfully over civil society. Draft laws along these lines are in the works. As some civil society actors have warned, the repressive nature of these legal measures will considerably diminish the civic space.

But new restrictions are already under way. According to our sources, certain NGOs have seen their partnerships with public actors frozen or suspended. There are also reports of abuses targeting individuals who work within civil society organizations, particularly when the employees in question go to renew their identity cards.

In March, the Central Bank published a circular containing new rules for financial transfers to NGOs in Tunisia from overseas institutions. These rules include new restrictions targeting associations.

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On March 11, the Central Bank published a circular with new rules for financial transfers from overseas to associations in Tunisia. These rules bring in new restrictions which target NGOs. Nawaat interviewed Zied Boussen, researcher at Pandora Consulting, to understand how associations are impacted.

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“With the arrest of civil society figures, the situation has become more dangerous. What commenced as simple threats has escalated to financial harassment and now police arrests,” observes Amine Ghali, programs director at the Al Kawakibi Centre for Democratic Transition (KADEM), in an interview with Nawaat.

President of the Tunisian Human Rights League (LTDH) Bassem Trifi corroborates this outlook. “This is a methodological, systematic attack against civil society. It is not a new development, but rather an existing offensive that has taken another—more dangerous—turn with this wave of arrests,” Trifi commented in an interview with Nawaat.

According to Trifi, civil society “serves as the scapegoat” in the current crisis.

Instead of clarifying Tunisia’s policies around border management and migration, and of the content of Tunisia’s agreements with the European Union or sub-Saharan countries, Saied never skips out on an opportunity to attack civil society.

Bassem Trifi, President of the Tunisian Human Rights League (LTDH)

Trifi adds that the president thus stirs confusion around civil society’s role in the migration dilemma.

The regime’s henchmen at work

Such confusion nourishes hate and racism towards migrants both on the ground and across social media networks. Once again, Saied has turned this vulnerable population over to mob justice and police repression. Several hundred men, women and children have been expelled towards the country’s borders.

This wave of racism also touches Black Tunisians, including Saadia Mosbah, president of the association Mnemty. Other Black Tunisians have been accused of plotting against the state by supporting the colonization agenda concocted by sub-Saharan migrants.

Beyond singling out associations and activists, henchmen of the current regime like Riadh Jrad, host of the TV show “Rendez-vous 9” on the private station Attessia, also attack the media, referring to them as “traitors” and “mercenaries.”

According to Jrad, these actors seek to undermine the president, and in turn the Tunisian state. Nawaat holds a special place among the media platforms cited by the television host, an unconditional supporter of the Saied administration.

Jrad accuses Nawaat of having “suspicious funding sources.” Nawaat’s funding sources, in the meantime, clearly listed on our website, are transparent and well-known by Tunisian authorities. The content we publish is a testament to our commitment to rights and freedoms, to human dignity—especially for the most vulnerable populations including migrants—and to Tunisia’s sovereignty.

“This attack against Nawaat and other media outlets stems from the repression of freedom of expression,” explains Zied Dabbar, president of the National Syndicate of Tunisian Journalists (SNJT), during an interview with Nawaat. And indeed, dozens of journalists have faced legal prosecution since Kais Saied’s power grab on July 25, 2021.

“The role of journalists is not to relay the state’s official narrative in any given context—political, judicial or security-related—but to seek information in an objective and ethical manner,” Dabbar notes. He rejects the “slanderous remarks” targeting Nawaat and other media outlets. “We encourage journalists to continue their work in seeking out the truth,” he urges members of the profession.

Unfortunately, Dabbar’s call to action may fail to stir many journalists and civil society activists. “People are tired. A climate of fear and self-censorship has settled in,” Bassem Trifi says woefully.