Tunisia detains seven Gaza flotilla activists
A Tunisian judge on Monday ordered the pre-trial detention of seven members of the new pro-Palestinian flotilla, Global Sumud, based on suspicions of money laundering under the country's anti-terrorism law.
On 6 March, local media reported that several members of the Tunisian Coordination of the Sumud Flotilla were arrested, including Wael Naouar, his wife Jawaher Channa, Nabil Chennoufi, Mohamed Amine Bennour, and Sana M’hidli.
After their hearing and ten days in police custody, an arrest warrant was issued against the activists for "forming a money laundering conspiracy", lawyer Sami Ben Ghazi told AFP.
The case is linked to a fundraising initiative during the first Global Sumud Flotilla in September, their lawyer added, without providing further details.
In a Facebook post published on Monday, he lamented that arrest warrants had been issued against his clients without them even being questioned.
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“What happened today was not a substantive interrogation, but rather the presentation of a barrage of accusations against our clients,” he wrote.
'The regime is repressing all forms of political and social activism, including in support of the Palestinian cause'
- Mahdi Elleuch, Tunisian activist
Substantive interrogations are expected to begin in the coming days, the defence said.
Dozens of protesters gathered outside the Financial Judicial Centre to oppose the prosecution of the activists.
"The regime is repressing all forms of political and social activism, including in support of the Palestinian cause. It's always the same process: using baseless charges, particularly money laundering, relying on a subservient judiciary," Mahdi Elleuch, a civil society activist, told AFP.
The arrests come amid a crackdown that followed President Kais Saied's coup in 2021, with numerous politicians, journalists and activists imprisoned as well as increasing pressure on civil society organisations and their funding.
‘Harrassment’
Global Sumud condemned the detentions, saying that "combined with repeated bans on legal gatherings", it marked "a troubling break with Tunisia's long history of solidarity with the Palestinian people".
The arrests followed a tense confrontation with police on 4 March, when activists from the coordination committee attempted to disembark at the port of Sidi Bou Said, near Tunis, from where they had embarked last year.
They wanted to demonstrate their support for the maritime workers who had helped them establish the flotilla in September.
After obtaining preliminary consent from the governor of Tunis, the ceremony was ultimately banned, while all gatherings and the use of loudspeakers were also reportedly prohibited.
The organisers said they had changed the planned event to a simple visit, while denouncing “security pressure and harassment” targeting the solidarity movement with Palestine in Tunisia.
Amnesty International’s Tunisia branch reacted with concern, noting the "alarming arrests and increasing restrictions in Tunisia on peaceful gatherings, in a context of repression on civic space and on human rights defenders".
Last autumn, activists from the Global Sumud Flotilla tried to reach Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid, before being intercepted by Israel. In February, they announced a new effort to reach the enclave with what they described as the largest convoy yet.
Global Sumud described its action as "a non-violent response to genocide, siege, mass famine and the destruction of civilian life in Gaza".
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