Summary:

On 13 March 2023, the Ministry of the Interior (MoI) announced that an Ariana court had ordered the arrest of four individuals responsible for managing social media pages affiliated with opposition political parties. The announcement indicated that the pages were being used to defend individuals involved in cases of corruption and conspiracy against the state.

The pages were, in the view of the court, being used to negatively influence public opinion and incite the public against the state. The investigation into the network of individuals disseminating this sort of information on social media is reportedly still underway.

Outlook:  

Tunisian legal authorities continue to focus their efforts on opposition figures involved in what the administration has characterized as conspiracy against the state. These additional arrests come following a string of detentions of activists, politicians, and political party members throughout February and early-March. Such detentions continue to raise concerns about the potential erosion of the rule of law and how the administration may leverage the justice system to silence to dissent. Our team is continuing to monitor the risk environment as it relates to the evolution of the application of legal structures and entities.

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