Ahmed Saidani

Summary

Ahmed Saidani, a young man from Bizerte governorate, was summoned to appear before the judiciary because of a post on a Facebook page he runs, in which he had expressed his support for workers at the municipality of the area where he lives in defending their rights.

Personal Information

Name: Ahmed Saidani

Nationality: Tunisian

Status: Civil activist

Incidents of Violation

Ahmed Saidani is a civil activist in the delegation of Ghezala, located in Bizerte governorate. On 13 September, Ahmed published a post expressing his support for municipal workers, a group of workers at the Ghezala municipality who had staged a protest outside the municipality headquarters to defend their rights. The page run by young Ahmed had long criticised the local authorities and denounced the conditions in his region. On 11 January 2023, he was contacted and informed that he was required to appear before the judiciary to be heard. Ahmed confirmed to us in his testimony to Intersection Association that the reason for this was a complaint filed by the mayor over the post he had published on his Facebook page. A hearing was also scheduled for him on 4 April 2023 at the Court of First Instance of Bizerte.

Human Rights Violations

The posts of civil activists in Tunisia and their expression of their opinions are an exercise of their right to freedom of expression. Such repressive practices directed against activists and other young people because of their opinions amount to a violation of freedom of opinion and expression. Prosecuting people for their opinions is also a clear violation of Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which provides that "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers", as well as Article 37 of the 2022 Constitution: "Freedom of opinion, thought, expression, information and publication shall be guaranteed." This is not to mention the intimidation of activists caused by such restrictions and security pursuits, aimed at silencing them and deterring them from defending their rights.

Sources

This case was documented on the basis of a telephone call with civil activist Ahmed Saidani on 11 January 2023 and examination of the post that is the subject of the prosecution.