Mahdi Ben Gharbia

Summary

Mehdi Ben Gharbia, a former member of the dissolved parliament under the decision of President Kais Saied, was arrested on October 17, 2022. Despite being acquitted of the charges against him, he remained in prison without any legal justification.

Personal Information

Name: Mehdi Ben Gharbia

Nationality: Tunisian

Age: 48

Occupation: Former Minister and Member of the Dissolved Parliament

Incidents of Violation

Mehdi Ben Gharbia, a former member of the Constituent Assembly in 2011 and a former minister in the government of Youssef Chehed, was arrested on October 17, 2021, for being accused of financial crimes and money laundering. 

Over the past few months, Mehdi ben Gharbia has been subjected to several violations while in detention. His defense team reported that he had been mistreated and denied his right to visitation by the General Directorate of Prisons and Rehabilitation, which deprived him of his right to meet his 4-year-old son in person. This was in accordance with orders of the investigating judge at the Court of First Instance in Sousse, who is in charge of the case, which led Mehdi to engage in a hunger strike inside the prison in November 2021.

Moreover, the charges against him were later withdrawn. Despite the expiration of the Pre-Trial detention period, as stipulated by Article 84 of the Tunisian Code of Criminal Procedure, which sets it for 6 months, Mehdi Ben Gharbia was not released, even after his defense team demanded his release on April 18, 2022, which has left him imprisoned to his day without any legal justification, which is considered arbitrary detention imposed by the authorities on one of its citizens and a clear violation of trial procedures.

Trial

Mehdi was arrested on several charges on October 17, 2021, and he was kept in detention until the legal duration of the pre-trial detention, as stipulated by Article 85 in the Tunisian Code of Criminal Procedure, which is 6 months, equivalent to 180 days. This period expired on April 15, 2022, and there was no extension decision issued before its expiration, which should have resulted in the release of Mehdi Ben Gharbia on April 15, 2022, hence keeping the victim of the violation, Mehdi Ben Gharbia, in detention after that date without any legal justification constitutes arbitrary detention.

Human Rights Violations

The detention of Mehdi Ben Gharbia is a flagrant violation of human rights and a transgression of the right to a fair trial, for it is irrational to hold a citizen in detention for 8 months without trial. In addition, this detention violates Article 7 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which stipulates, “ All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.” It also violates Article 9 therein, which states, “ No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.”

Sources

This case was documented based on the Defense Team for Mehdia Ben Gharbia’s statement and several articles and publications of human rights defenders and activists.