Statement: Fighting racism is not a crime; racism is the crime
On the night of Eid, the Court of First Instance in Tunis issued a shocking and unjust verdict against anti-racism activist Saadia Mosbah, who has been detained for nearly 700 days. She was sentenced to eight years in prison and a fine, alongside prison sentences and fines against another group of activists from the Manamti Association who are currently on bail. Additional penalties were also imposed, barring some of them from running for office or voting.
The undersigned associations, organizations, groups, and political parties recall that Saadia Mosbah and the Mnemty Association are being prosecuted for their legitimate, peaceful, and civic struggleagainst racism and hate speech. This case was fabricated by the authorities as part of a campaign of political arrests in May 2024 targeting civil society activists, journalists, and lawyers, and carried out by a judiciary subject to political directives.
They further note that money laundering charges have increasingly been used to criminalize political opposition, journalistic work, and civil and solidarity movements—in blatant contradiction with the very definition of such crimes and in the absence of their legal elements—based on politically driven accusations issued by the executive authority, which effectively determines both the charges and the convictions.
The verdicts against Saadia Mosbah and the activists of the Mnemty Association also coincide with a marked escalation in hate speech and racism across social media and certain television outlets, in coordinated campaigns involving pro-government voices. This rhetoric has directly targeted Saadia Masbah through a repugnant racist narrative promoting the notions of “resettlement” and the “Great Replacement” theory—discourses legitimized by the authorities since their statement of February 21, 2023. These campaigns are inseparable from a broader climate of demonization targeting all voices opposing racism and defending human rights in Tunisia .
Accordingly, we—the undersigned associations, organizations, political parties, and groups—declare:
We strongly condemn these unjust verdicts and denounce their clear political motivations, as they aim to intimidate dissenting voices, silence the public sphere, and use scapegoats to reinforce a racist narrative while obscuring the authorities’ role in policing European borders.
We consider the case against Saadia Masbah and the Manamti Association to be fundamentally racist, as evidenced by the fact that Black citizens —unlike other defendants in the case—have been deprived of their right to vote and run for office.
We reaffirm our full and unconditional solidarity with Saadia Mosbah and all activists of the “Manamti” Association, as well as their families, in the face of the injustice and targeting they endure.
We demand the immediate release of Saadia Mosbah, the dropping of all politically motivated charges against activists, and an end to the use of the judiciary and prisons to suppress public life.
We condemn the campaigns of incitement, hatred, defamation, racism, and cyberviolence against Saadia Masbah and other activists, and call for the enforcement of Law No. 50 of 2018 on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination, against all racist speech regardless of its source.
We call on Tunisians to stand firm in the face of criminalization and intimidation, and to continue the struggle for a democratic Tunisia that guarantees rights and freedoms for all its citizens without discrimination and upholds human dignity
Freedom for Saadia Mosbah… Freedom for all detainees
Signatories:
Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights
Tunisian League for the Defense of Human Rights
Campaign Against the Criminalization of Civil Action
Lawyers Without Borders
Women’s Voices Association
Betty Association
Al-Bawsala
Tunisian Association of Democratic Women
Tunisian Association for the Defense of Individual Freedoms
Crossroads Association for Rights and Freedoms
Tunisian Association for Justice and Equality
I Watch Organization
African Association
Nawaat Journalists’ Association
Committee for the Respect of Freedoms and Human Rights in Tunisia
Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network
World Organization Against Torture
No Peace Without Justice
Tunisian Association for Rights and Freedoms
Legal Agenda
Our Children Association
Nomad08 Association
Voice of Black Tunisian Women
Nashaz Association
Sumud Coalition
Federation of Tunisians for Citizenship on Both Shores
Renewal Forum
Republican Party
Al-Qotb Party
Afek Tounes Party
Democratic Current Party
Democratic Forum for Labour and Liberties
