Tunisia: authorities target migrant rights activists after Kais Saied's speech

Tunisian authorities have taken action against multiple migration activists following President Kais Saied's allegations that they were "mercenaries".

On Tuesday, 7 April, Tunisia's public prosecutor detained Saadia Mosbah, a prominent activist and head of the NGO M'nemty that defends the rights of migrants and fights against anti-black racism.

Mosbah and her vice president, Zied Rouin, are investigated on charges of housing illegal migrants and aiding their entry into Tunisian territory, according to a statement by the prosecutor.

The two activists are also under investigation for violating their authorisation and committing financial crimes. In a press release, M'nemty has denied the accusations, refusing to become a 'scapegoat' for the state's failed migration policy.

The court added that several other activists are being investigated on similar charges without providing further information on their identities.

"The NGO was authorised to assist asylum seekers, not illegal migrants. There is a significant difference between these two categories," argued the court's statement.

However, Tunisian authorities' deportation and evacuation decisions against sub-Saharan migrants rarely differentiate between the two categories.

Last week, Tunisian authorities expelled hundreds of sub-Saharan asylum-seekers, migrants, and refugees from encampments in Tunis.

The raid, which occurred around 3 am on 3 May, saw police forcibly remove people from several makeshift camps in the capital, including two outside the offices of the UN's refugee (UNHCR) and migration (IOM) agencies, according to the NGO.

They were reportedly put on municipal buses and driven to the border, where they were left near the town of Jendouba with no food or water, according to the Refugees in Libya NGO.

Since last February, Tunisia arbitrarily deported thousands of migrants, including asylum seekers, to the Sahara buffer zone.

Confirming the number of people impacted by the reported clearances and expulsions is difficult.

Local groups say up to tens of thousands of migrants could be living in makeshift tents in olive fields around port towns like Sfax as they wait to board boats for Europe.

The Tunisian Forum for Social and Economic Rights (FTDES) suggested that over 400 sub-Saharan African migrants may have been expelled from Tunisia to its eastern borders with Libya since the beginning of May.

The recent crackdown on migrant activists followed another controversial speech by President Saied, in which he claimed that "some activists are traitors who receive money to destabilise the state".

"They cannot, under any circumstances, replace the state. Sheltering migrants must be provided only by the Red Crescent," he added.

The Tunisian president has also urged landlords to report all migrant tenants to the authorities to avoid legal consequences.

Before his threats, several landlords have evicted their migrant tenants out of fear of security force raids or due to anti-migrant sentiments.

President Saied's infamous speech last February, in which he claimed that migration aims to change the country's demographic makeup, has incited a wave of anti-black racism in Tunisia. The southern town of El Amra saw several resident demonstrations in favour of deporting migrants last weekend.

Since the end of 2023, some migrants have told reporters that kidnapping and extortion are becoming more common in Tunisia. Last summer, some migrants endured the scorching heat for shade.

The legal aid group Lawyers Without Borders said these practices directly result from official attitudes towards migration.

On Tuesday, the Tunisian parliament called on the government to clarify the state's strategy for resolving the migration issue, disclose the number of sub-Saharan migrants in the country, and explain Tunisia's recent migration agreement with Rome.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni signed three agreements with Tunisia during an official state visit to the North African country last month, promising  €105 million (US$111.7 million) in state cash and credit lines to help Tunis control migration.