The European Union strongly condemned the verdict against the iconic Tunisian dissident Sihám bin Sadrin. It exerts pressure to restore pluralism in the cradle of the Arab Spring.
On Saturday, the European Union condemned the sentence against one of the most famous Tunisian opposition figures, Siham bin Sadrin, and called on the Tunisian authorities to restore pluralism in the country where the Arab Spring began. It was reported by the AFP agency.
- Sihám bin Sadrínová received 25 years in prison for her work.
- The European Union condemned the sentence against the opposition activist from Tunisia.
- The charges relate to her leadership of the Truth and Dignity Commission.
- Bin Sadrín rejects the accusations, non-governmental organizations consider them political.
- The state of human rights and civil liberties is deteriorating in Tunisia.
The seventy-five-year-old activist and journalist was sentenced by a court in Tunisia to 25 years in prison. Bin Sadrín was prosecuted in two separate cases related to her work as head of the Truth and Dignity Commission (IVD), which she chaired from 2014-18.
Created after the 2010–11 revolution, the body was tasked with documenting human rights abuses committed by state officials from 1955-2013, a period that includes the presidencies of autocrat Habib Bourguiba (1957–87) and his successor Zine Abidine Ben Ali (1987–2011), as well as post-revolutionary unrest.
She should have published the news earlier
Bin Sadrin was prosecuted, among other things, for allegedly falsifying the final report of the Truth and Dignity Commission (IVD) before its official publication. She was accused of adding a paragraph to the text in which she accused the Franco-Tunisian bank of corruption in exchange for a bribe. Bin Sadrínová denies this accusation. Together with her co-defendants, she received a fine of more than 1.7 billion dinars (502.9 million euros) from the court. Non-governmental organizations describe all these accusations against bin Sadrin as politically motivated.
“We call on the Tunisian authorities to restore an environment conducive to pluralism and the free expression of independent opinions, which are essential for the country’s development,” EU spokesman Anouar El Anouni said. At the same time, Bin Sadrin called her an “iconic defender of human rights”.
Other representatives of the opposition are in prison or have gone into exile in Tunisia. Non-governmental organizations warn of the deterioration of human rights and the restriction of civil liberties after President Kaís Saíd, based on the constitution approved in the 2022 referendum, has extensive powers that make him the chief executive officer with almost unlimited power.
