In early May 2024 Tunisian authorities arbitrarily arrested Sherifa Riahi, while on maternity leave nursing her newborn baby, Yadh Bousselmi and Mohamed Joo – former and current staff of Terre d’Asile Tunisie, an NGO assisting refugees and migrants. Days later, they arrested Imen Ouardani, a former local official who had collaborated with the NGO. Authorities targeted them as part of a broader crackdown on civil society supporting refugees and migrants, fuelled by racist and xenophobic rhetoric, and have since held them in arbitrary pretrial detention. They must immediately release them and drop all charges against them.
