Summary:<\/b><\/p>\n
Dalila Ben Mbarek Msaddek, a lawyer, human rights defender, and member of the defence committee representing political detainees, is currently facing seven criminal cases under article 24 of decree-law no. 54. These proceedings arise from her acts of solidarity, legal defence, and public denunciation of violations committed against political detainees in what is publicly referred to as the \u201cconspiracy case\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n The repeated judicial proceedings brought against her, particularly in connection with the exercise of her professional duties as legal counsel and her public human rights advocacy, raise serious concerns regarding judicial harassment, restrictions on freedom of expression, and interference with the right to defence and fair trial guarantees.<\/span><\/p>\n Personal Information:<\/b><\/p>\n Name:<\/b> Dalila Ben Mbarek Msaddek<\/span><\/p>\n Status: <\/b>Lawyer and member of the defence committee for political detainees in the case publicly known as the \u201cconspiracy case\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n Charges:<\/b><\/p>\n -<\/b>Attribution of false facts with the intent to defame others and undermine public security, where the targeted person is a public official, under article 24 of decree-law no. 54<\/span><\/p>\n -Processing of personal data related to criminal proceedings under articles 13 and 87 of the personal data protection law.<\/span><\/p>\n -Violation of decisions issued by the competent authority under Article 315 of the Penal Code.<\/span><\/p>\n \n \n Violation Incidents:<\/b><\/p>\n Dalila Msaddek is a lawyer, human rights activist, and member of the defence committee representing political detainees in what is known as the \u201cconspiracy case\u201d. She has been subjected to multiple judicial proceedings as a result of carrying out her professional duty in defending detainees, including her brother, political detainee Jawher Ben Mbarek.<\/span><\/p>\n These proceedings date back to 2023. On 22 November 2023, Dalila Msaddek was referred for investigation by order of the prosecutor general at the Tunis court of appeal to the public prosecutor before the Tunis court of first Instance. This referral followed statements she made on 21 November 2023 during a television programme broadcast on a private channel, in which she discussed facts relating to the \u201cconspiracy case\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n It should be noted that the investigating judge of office No. 36 at the judicial counter-terrorism pole had previously issued a decision prohibiting \u201cmedia circulation\u201d of information relating to the two cases concerning the alleged conspiracy case.<\/span><\/p>\n According to the defence committee for political detainees, the investigating judge of office No. 21 at the Tunis court of first instance decided to question Msaddek on Tuesday, 28 November 2023, in connection with another case initiated by the public prosecution under article 24 of decree-Law No. 54. This case was based on her public statements concerning the \u201cconspiracy case\", particularly her announcement that the defence committee intended to submit a request to hear foreign diplomats whose names appeared in the case file.<\/span><\/p>\n On 5 December 2023, a hearing session was held during which Msaddek was questioned before the investigating judge of office No. 35 at the Tunis court of first Instance under article 24 of decree-Law No. 54, articles 13 and 87 of the personal data protection law, and article 315 of the penal code.<\/span><\/p>\n The referral also included journalist Borhene Bsaies, who hosted the program and he was heard on the same day. Following her questioning, it was decided that she would remain at liberty pending proceedings.<\/span><\/p>\n Subsequently, the criminal chamber of the Tunis court of first instance, on 17 October 2025, adjourned the trial to 25 November 2025, and later to 9 January 2026. On 23 January 2026, the court issued a first-instance judgment sentencing lawyer Dalila Msaddek and media figure Borhene Bsaies to 15 days\u2019 imprisonment and a financial fine, based on article 24 of decree-law No. 54.<\/span><\/p>\n In addition to these two cases at the beginning of 2026, Msaddek was facing five additional cases under the same provision, all of which remain under investigation.<\/span><\/p>\n In a video published on her social media page on 19 January 2026, she confirmed that these proceedings were initiated following her publication of video statements during her brother\u2019s hunger strike, in which she denounced the violations he had been subjected to inside prison and highlighted irregularities affecting fair trial guarantees.<\/span><\/p>\n Human Rights Violations:<\/b><\/p>\n The repeated judicial proceedings targeting lawyer and human rights defender Dalila Msaddek, culminating in her conviction on 23 January 2026, reflect a systematic pattern of judicial harassment aimed at silencing voices defending human rights and restricting civic space.<\/span><\/p>\n Her conviction under article 24 of decree-Law No. 54 constitutes a clear violation of Article 19 of the international covenant on civil and political rights (ICCPR), which guarantees the right to freedom of expression and permits restrictions only where they meet the requirements of legality, necessity, and proportionality.<\/span><\/p>\n By contrast, Decree-Law No. 54 is drafted in broad and vague terms, opening the door to arbitrary interpretation and enabling its use to criminalise critical and rights-based speech.<\/span><\/p>\n The multiplicity and acceleration of proceedings, as well as their direct connection to her exercise of her professional role as defence counsel, indicate a breach of fair trial guarantees under Article 14 of the ICCPR, including the right to be tried before an independent and impartial tribunal and the right not to be subjected to vexatious or retaliatory prosecutions.<\/span><\/p>\n The prosecution of Dalila Msaddek for carrying out her professional duties further constitutes a violation of the United Nations Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, which guarantee protection for lawyers against prosecution, intimidation, or harassment arising from the performance of their professional functions.<\/span><\/p>\n Such actions also undermine the right to defence and weaken the safeguards of fair judicial proceedings.<\/span><\/p>\n These prosecutions form part of a broader pattern of restrictions targeting human rights defenders, in violation of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, which protects their right to speak out, publish information, and expose violations without fear of reprisals.<\/span><\/p>\n Moreover, criminalising statements of a human rights nature as the \u201cattribution of false facts to a public official\u201d, in the absence of a precise and clear legal definition, undermines the principle of nullum crimen, nulla poena sine lege (no crime and no punishment without clear legal basis), resulting in an unlawful expansion of criminal liability.<\/span><\/p>\n This judicial course is also inconsistent with Article 37 of the 2022 Constitution of the Republic of Tunisia, which guarantees freedom of opinion, thought, expression, information, and publication, and prohibits prior censorship of these freedoms.<\/span><\/p>\n The prosecution of Dalila Msaddek in seven separate cases under Decree-Law No. 54, on the basis of her media statements and her exercise of professional legal duties, constitutes a direct attack on the legal profession and empties the right to defence of its substance.<\/span><\/p>\n It further represents an attempt to silence alternative human rights narratives and reflects a punitive use of legal provisions that diverts the judiciary from its function as an instrument of justice into a means of suppressing dissenting voices.<\/span><\/p>\n Such practices threaten judicial independence, undermine the foundations of the rule of law, and seriously compromise Tunisia\u2019s international human rights obligations.<\/span><\/p>\n"},"free-categories":[67,56],"countries":[37],"state":[45],"class_list":["post-6247","freedom-faces","type-freedom-faces","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","free-categories-67","free-categories-56","countries-37","state-45"],"yoast_head":"\n