On 14 January, the 14th anniversary of the Tunisian revolution, prominent human rights defender Sihem Bensedrine announced an open-ended hunger strike to protest her arbitrary detention since August 2024 solely for exercising her human rights. On 26 January, she was hospitalized due to health complications. On 28 January 2025, her lawyers learned that a Tunis investigative judge has extended her pre-trial detention for another four months on charges of “fraud”, “forgery” and “abuse of official capacity” in relation to her role exposing alleged corruption as President of the Truth and Dignity Commission (IVD). Authorities must immediately and unconditionally release Sihem Bensedrine, drop all the charges against her and end the misuse of the criminal justice system to target her.
