Tunisian President Qais Saied has tasked the Secretary of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with inviting a number of accredited foreign ambassadors to Tunisia to inform them of the country’s “protest” against foreign intervention in its internal affairs.
Saied received Monji Benrgiba, the Secretary of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Migration, and Tunisians Abroad, at the Carthage Palace on Wednesday, instructing him to extend the invitation. He reminded that “the preamble of the constitution stipulates that the Tunisian people refuse any interference in their internal affairs.”
The Tunisian President stated, “There is absolutely no confrontation with lawyers as is being promoted. Just as the right to litigation is guaranteed, so is the right to defense.”
He added, “What happened in the last few days is not related at all to the legal profession but to those who dared to belittle and insult their country in the media and those who violently attacked a security officer.”
Saied continued, “The Tunisian state is obliged to provide every prisoner with the right to humane treatment that preserves their dignity.”
He further questioned, “A lawyer has been detained on charges of participating in a terrorist conspiracy and money laundering, so why hasn’t there been any controversy surrounding him?”
Saied affirmed that “the Lawyers’ House is above Tunisian territory and is not subject to any regional system, so that someone can take refuge in it and repeat that it has been invaded.”
The Tunisian police arrested lawyer Sonia Dahmani a few days ago because of statements deemed offensive to the country and the state.
During a television program on the local private channel “Carthage+,” Sonia Dahmani sarcastically commented, “Look at this great country,” in response to another political commentator who was present with her on the program defending the idea that African immigrants want to settle in Tunisia. This statement was widely circulated on social media and considered by some as “insulting” to the country.
Tunisian lawyers announced a regional general strike in all major courts of the country following the arrest of lawyer Dahmani.
Earlier, France expressed “concern” after the arrest of the lawyer and writer Sonia Dahmani in Tunisia.
Deputy Spokesperson for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Christophe Lemoine, stated that the arrest came “in the context of other arrests, especially of journalists and members of associations.”
He added, “Freedom of expression and the freedom of association, like the independence of the judiciary, are principles guaranteed by the Tunisian constitution as well as by United Nations agreements to which Tunisia, like France, is a party.”
