Intersection Association for Rights and Freedoms expresses its deepest and unconditional support with the environmental activist “Khaireddine Debbeya”, and other environmental activist in the region of Gabes, after the issuance of the absentia sentences on March 8, 2023, which sentenced them to one year in prison on charges of “blocking the freedom to work”, based on their participation in a peaceful protest in front of the Regional Directorate of the Tunisian Chemical Group in 2020.

These sentences, which were issued without prior notification to the convicted and without letting them access their right to defense, constitute a serious violation of fair trial guarantees. They also reveal a disturbing pattern toward the criminalization of environmental activism, rather than responding to the legitimate demands related to the right to a healthy environment, as well as to health and human dignity.

In fact, portraying an industrial entity accused of severe environmental and health violations as the “victim” of a peaceful protest, while targeting environmental rights defenders with legal action, reveals a stark distortion of justice. This approach reinforces immunity for polluters and undermines the right to peaceful protest, a right protected by both the Constitution and international human rights standards.

Thus, Intersection Association reiterates its demand to:

-Immediately suspend all judicial proceedings that are clearly motivated by punitive intent.

-Stop the misuse of the judiciary and arbitrary legal measures as instruments of repression and intimidation against defenders of environmental rights in Tunisia.