Rania Amdouni

Summary

Rania Amdouni is a queer activist and human rights defender. Rania has been subjected to security harassment and hate campaigns because of her participation in the protests of January 2020. Members of the police unions in Tunisia also filed a complaint against Rania for assaulting security officers and violating the state-of-emergency law on 28 October, which made her a target of pursuit by security officers.

Personal Information

Name: Rania Amdouni

Nationality: Tunisian

Age: 26

Occupation: Stage actress and student at a film school in Tunisia.

Incidents of Violation

Rania Amdouni, 26, is a queer feminist activist and human rights defender. Rania's work focuses on defending the rights and freedoms of the LGBTQI+ community. For years, Rania has been documenting the violations committed by the Tunisian police against members of the LGBTQI+ community in Tunisia. Rania constantly participates in, supports and coordinates social protests in Tunisia. Rania is currently the target of hate campaigns, incitement to violence and threats, including death threats, issued by police unions and by a member of the Assembly of the Representatives of the People affiliated with the Islamist current in Tunisia. The case dates back to the night of Saturday 27 February 2021, when Rania Amdouni went to the national police station known as "Le Septième" in Tunis to file complaints following threats and assaults by officers targeting her physical and psychological safety.

For more than a year, Rania has been subjected to hate campaigns, incitement to violence and threats, including death threats, by police unions. These campaigns have intensified recently as a result of Rania's participation in the recent social protests in Tunisia and her opposition to the systematic violations committed by the police, who recently pursued her to her home, forcing her to move out for periods of time for fear of attacks by security forces.

Despite Rania Amdouni's official requests to the Tunisian Ministry of the Interior for protection from the threats she received, and despite her defence team's assertions that she had been subjected to very heavy pressure, which was confirmed by her psychotherapist, the sentence imprisoning her confirmed the systematic targeting of human rights defenders by members of police unions and their use of Article 125 of the Penal Code to persecute them.

Charges

Insulting a public official under Article 125 of the Penal Code.

Legal Procedures

On 4 March 2021, the Tunis District Court handed down a six-month prison sentence against stage and film actress, queer feminist activist and human rights defender Rania Amdouni, following malicious charges fabricated against her by police officers under Article 125 of the Tunisian Penal Code (insulting a public official).

Human Rights Violations

Rania was subjected to gender-based discrimination, as her gender identity was the reason for a series of hate campaigns launched against her. Moreover, her trial under Article 125 of the Penal Code constitutes a flagrant violation of human rights and a malicious charge intended to take revenge on Rania and to strip her of her right to expression and to demonstrate.

Sources

In documenting this case, Intersection Association relied on the testimony of Rania Amdouni, as well as her lawyers and a number of activists.