Tunisia: Immediately Release Former Justice Minister Noureddine Bhiri

(September 24, 2024, New York): The Tunisian government should immediately end its arbitrary imprisonment and abuse of former Justice Minister Noureddine Bhiri, whose life is in danger due to medical neglect and the injuries he has suffered at the hands of security forces, said DAWN today.

Bhiri's prosecution on obviously falsified evidence to support an alleged speech offense would be arbitrary and unlawful even if true, and reflects a broad pattern of vengeful political attacks on leaders of the country's political opposition.

"Even if the fake evidence offered by the prosecution were true – a mere Facebook post calling for resistance to the coup – it offers no lawful basis for Bhiri's imprisonment, much less the vicious physical abuse to which Tunisian security forces have subjected him," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Executive Director at DAWN. "Bhiri's imprisonment is evidence of only one thing: the lengths to which the Saied dictatorship will go to use the power of the state to persecute its political opponents."

Arbitrary and Unlawful Prosecution

Tunisian security forces arrested Bhiri on February 23, 2023 without a warrant and have detained him, first holding him in an unauthorized place of detention at the Bouchoucha Barracks, and then in El Mornaguia prison, where he remains imprisoned. In his ongoing trial, the prosecution has charged him with seeking to overthrow the government through an obviously falsified Facebook post, which Bhiri denies he posted or is real. DAWN interviewed members of Bhiri's family and legal team on August 5 and reviewed the available court files and evidence.

"It's perfectly clear that Bhiri's charges are manufactured by Saied's authoritarian regime in another attempt to target perceived enemies of the president. The state didn't even bother to make it convincing," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Executive Director at DAWN. "Even if the Facebook post wasn't fabricated, however, detaining him for the alleged post violates both the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights to which Tunisia is a state party."

On April 16, 2024, the Criminal Chamber of the Tunis Court of Cassation formally charged Bhiri with trying to "change the form of the government; or inciting people to take up arms against one another; or provoking disorder, murder, or pillage on Tunisian soil," punishable by death under Article 72 of the Penal Code. As evidence for their accusation, the Tunisian court claimed Bhiri published an incendiary Facebook post. Bhiri has repeatedly denied authorship of the post, and the technical expert requested by the court itself also concluded that Bhiri did not author the post.

In an interview with DAWN on August 5, Saïda el-Akremi, Bhiri's wife and a lawyer who is a member of his legal representation team, said, "They only presented a screenshot; they said, here it is, he wrote it. Even though Bhiri confirmed several times that he did not publish any such post, the investigating judge did not accept this." The screenshot of the "post" and an English translation is posted below, and is quite clearly not what a live Facebook post looks like.

On June 5, 2024, the Court of First Instance held a trial session in which Bhiri's defense team of more than 70 lawyers, including his wife, called out the procedural irregularities in the prosecution and the failure of the authorities to prove any crime against Mr Bhiri. At the conclusion of the session, the Court of First Instance seized the case file, making the case evidence unavailable for view. The next session will take place on September 27, in which the court will consider the two complaints submitted by Bhiri alleging torture.

Physical Abuse and Mistreatment in Prison

During his arrest, Tunisian security officers have subjected Bhiri to extreme physical abuse and torture, resulting in multiple broken bones, repeated visits to the hospital, and multiple surgeries, as confirmed by Tunisia's National Authority for the Prevention of Torture (INPT) in its own report on his mistreatment.

"The torture and violence to which Tunisian security forces have subjected Bhiri is shocking and unconscionable, and they are the ones who should be prosecuted and jailed for their grotesque crimes," said Whitson. "Saied's government has sunk to unimagined brutality in simple political retaliation against a former justice minister." 

On February 13, 2023, around 50 Tunisian police entered Bhiri's home. According to an extensive report by the INPT that investigated the violence of the arrest and ensuing injuries, the police showed no warrant, alleging they left the documents in their vehicle and assaulted his wife and children. In the INPT report, Bhiri stated that when he refused to comply without evidence of a warrant, the police pushed him down the stairs to the entrance of his house, shown here. When Bhiri cried out and told them he could not stand, one group of police took him by the hands and another by his feet and hauled him into a white Toyota 4×4.

Security forces transported Bhiri to the Bouchoucha Barracks, an unauthorized place of detention. A doctor ordered his urgent evacuation to hospital due to his injuries, according to the INPT report. However, despite appearing before the investigating judge of the Tunis court on February 14, the Tunisian authorities did not grant his request to go to the hospital, instead transferring him to El Mornaguia Prison. On February 15, two days after his arrest, authorities finally allowed his admission to the hospital.

Dr. Sami Abdellatif, professor of critical care at the Faculty of Medicine of Tunis and Head of the Medical Critical Care Department at La Rabta, published a medical report on Bhiri's medical condition on May 10, 2023. The report, which DAWN translated from French, states Bhiri underwent surgery by osteosynthesis, a surgical procedure that joins broken bones together using a plate, on February 15 for a fractured humerus, the long bone that runs from shoulder to elbow. In addition to the severe fracture, Bhiri also presented bruises and abrasions on the upper right arm and both legs, shown below.

Authorities transferred him to El Mornaguia Prison just one day after his surgery, despite advice from his doctors. He remained in pretrial detention there without formal charges until April 16, 2024. Since the charges and ensuing trial on June 5, he still remains there.

In February of 2024, Bhiri began a hunger strike and entered the hospital again on February 25 "for the management of hypokalemia with electrical and muscular symptoms, such as paresthesias, related to insufficient enteral potassium intake," according to medical reports reviewed by DAWN, and ended his hunger strike on February 28. At this time, the medical reports indicate that doctors also found "simple fractures of the mid-arc of the 5th-6th ribs and the anterior portions of the 7th-8th left ribs. An ultrasound performed on February 28 showed "an immobile left diaphragmatic dome, consistent with post-traumatic diaphragmatic paralysis given the context." The most common cause of diaphragmatic paralysis is blunt trauma to the neck.

Bhiri filed two complaints regarding his February 2023 arrest, which DAWN has reviewed. The first complaint refers to the medical reports detailing his injuries and mistreatment after his arrest. After no response from the public prosecution office, his second complaint also included a thorough report published on March 10, 2023 from Tunisia's National Authority for the Prevention of Torture (INPT). The INPT's report found that the injuries reported in Bhiri's medical reports falls under the Istanbul Protocol's "highly compatible" or even "typical" findings of torture. A highly compatible finding indiciates the injuries could have been caused by the type of alleged torture or ill-treatment and that there are few other possible causes. A "typical" finding indicates these injuries are usually seen with the type of alleged torture or mistreatment, but there are other possible causes.

Bhiri began a second hunger strike on June 28, 2024 in protest of the inaction of the public prosecutor's office to address his complaints. On July 12, 2024, after an 18 day hunger strike, Bhiri entered  intensive care at La Rabta hospital in Tunis. On July 17, 2024, authorities returned Bhiri to Ell Mornaguia Prison after Tunisia's spokesman for the General Directorate of Prisons and Rehabilitation reported that medical staff deemed his state of health to be stable. 

On July 2, at the Court of First Instance, Bhiri's defense attorney demanded a response from the government to Bhiri's complaints but the president of the court postponed the case to September 27. "We have two reports and the right to ask for the follow-up to our complaint. We are waiting for a response from the public prosecutor on this matter, " said Saida Akremi, Bhiri's wife and attorney on his legal team.

Bhiri previously faced arbitrary persecution and detention by Tunisian prosecutors in 2021. On December 13, 2021, authorities violently arrested both Bhiri and Fathi Beldi, a former Interior Ministry employee. Authorities held both men at undisclosed locations for two days and then sentenced them to house arrest until March 7, 2022. Tunisian authorities never filed any formal charges against the men.

"The fabricated charges against Bhiri, confirmed even by the expert witness called by the Tunisian authorities, are a blatant effort to use the judiciary as a political cudgel against anyone who dares to criticize the dictatorship," said Raed Jarrar, Director of Advocacy at DAWN. "President Saeid should end his ongoing pattern of political repression."

For any deprivation of liberty to be lawful, it must be carried out on grounds and pursuant to a procedure established in domestic law that are themselves in accordance with the provisions of international human rights law. Powers of arrest should be precise, clear, and known to the public. The law should ensure that incommunicado detention and secret deprivation of liberty are prohibited in all circumstances and that people can only lawfully be held in officially recognized detention sites.

The bogus charges follow a pattern of other politically motivated arbitrary arrests under President Saied's regime, who claimed emergency powers on July 25, 2021. He dismissed the Prime Minister, suspended all activities of Parliament, and lifted the immunity of parliamentarians on the basis of a misinterpretation of Article 80 of the Constitution. Furthermore, he announced, in violation of Tunisia's Constitution, that he would assume all executive, legislative and judicial powers with the assistance of the Prime Minister and ministers he would personally appoint. Since then, authorities have opened criminal investigations against at least 74 opposition figures and other perceived enemies of the president, including at least 44 people accused of crimes in connection with the peaceful exercise of their human rights. 

Tunisian authorities should immediately release Bhiri and investigate and hold accountable the security officers responsible for his abuse and torture. The United States should sanction the Tunisian judicial and security officials involved in this arbitrary prosecution and detention and unlawful torture and physical abuse pursuant to the Global Magnitsky Act.

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Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings; as the saying goes, 'The strong-willed face calamities,'

And when you make up your mind, trust in God.

A thousand thanks to the free people of Harayer, the liberated people of Mnihela, and to all local and distant groups.

Once again, the militias of Qais Saeed are playing tricks, trying to scare and intimidate us. But this exaggerated fear stems from a human sensitivity, not from actual threats. It reveals their lack of responsibility and weakness in bearing the burden of trust, especially at the leadership level, both locally and nationally.

There is no place for hesitation or silence in the face of corruption and oppression. These are dangerous times that require national and religious responsibilities.

When we are called to resist injustice and corruption, everyone must rise to the occasion. No one should let the other down, and no one should surrender to tyranny. Fulfilling the duty to resist injustice is a responsibility that we must bear, with neither hesitation nor compromise.

Facing terror requires courage, and the way to defend oneself, money, and honor is by standing firm. Everyone needs a leader, a guide, and a role model, and each leader needs supporters who defend them in difficult times. These hardships reveal the true colors of leaders and those who support them against oppression and aggression.blatent