A Tunisian rights group that shared the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize has been ordered to halt activities for one month by authorities.
The Human Rights League (LTDH), founded in 1976 and one of the region’s oldest rights organizations, has long been a prominent voice for human rights in Tunisia. It has been an outspoken critic of President Kais Saied and for months was barred from visiting prisons in several cities to inspect conditions. The LTDH said the suspension is part of “a wider pattern of increasingly systematic curbs on civil society and on free and independent voices.”
The move comes amid warnings from rights organizations that Tunisia has been sliding toward authoritarian rule since Saied assumed expanded powers in 2021. In October, Tunisian authorities suspended several other prominent groups, including the Democratic Women and the Economic and Social Rights Forum.
Saied, 68, suspended parliament in 2021 and has governed largely by decree since then. He denies seeking to be a dictator, asserts that freedoms are guaranteed, and says no one is above the law. He has repeatedly warned that foreign funding of NGOs can threaten national sovereignty.
Tunisia was long seen as the Arab Spring’s main democratic success, but critics say the country is increasingly restricting the opposition, media and civil society.
Edited by: Sean Sinico