Tunisia temporarily bans prominent rights group

Tunisian authorities have temporarily banned the local branch of prominent international NGO Avocats Sans Frontieres, the branch said on Tuesday, days after another leading group was targeted by a similar measure.

The rights group told AFP they received a 30-day suspension but did not provide details on the reasons behind the decision.

In a statement, ASF in Tunisia condemned the ban as "an unjustified infringement on the freedom of civil action and a clear targeting of independent spaces that strive to serve the public good and promote the values of solidarity, justice and the rule of law."

"The organisation maintains its full right to defend itself and to... appeal this decision."

The temporary suspension came 10 days after the Tunisian League for Human Rights (LTDH) — the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize winner along with three other groups — also had its operations suspended for a month.

Tunisia emerged from the Arab Spring as a democracy, but elected President Kais Saied staged a sweeping power grab in 2021 and rights groups have since criticised a major rollback of freedoms.

Saied has accused NGOs of receiving suspicious funds in "huge sums" from abroad, which he has called "blatant interference" in Tunisian affairs.

By autumn last year, at least 17 NGOs had received month-long suspension orders.

They included two of the country's best-known organisations, the Tunisian Forum for Social and Economic Rights (FTDES) and the Association of Democratic Women (ATFD).