(Beirut) – Five employees of the Tunisian Council for Refugees will stand trial on May 13, 2026, after appealing criminal sentences for their work assisting asylum seekers and refugees, Human Rights Watch said today. The Tunisian authorities should end the abusive prosecution of the employees, compensate them for their unlawful detention, and stop the widespread crackdown on civil society groups.
Tunisian authorities shut down the Tunisian Council for Refugees in May 2024, arrested its founder and director, Mustapha Djemali, and program manager, Abderrazek Krimi, and prosecuted them alongside four other employees. On November 24, 2025, a Tunis Court of First Instance sentenced Djemali and Krimi to two years in prison, suspending six months and releasing them the same day for time served. It acquitted three other defendants, while the fourth is in a separate judicial proceeding. Djemali and Krimi both appealed the decision, as did the prosecution.
“Tunisia has gone out of its way to shut down almost all available aid or protection available to refugees and asylum seekers,” said Bassam Khawaja, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The authorities should end this abusive prosecution, which sends a chilling message to groups carrying out humanitarian work.”
The Tunisian Council for Refugees, formed in 2016, assisted the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) with initial screenings of asylum seekers’ applications. It also provided emergency accommodation and medical assistance for refugees and asylum seekers. On May 2, 2024, the council published a public tender to Tunisian hotels for accommodation services, causing a backlash on social media amid an anti-migrant crackdown. The next day, the police raided the council’s headquarters in Tunis, shut down the group, and arrested Djemali. On May 4, they arrested Krimi.
On May 7, an investigative judge ordered Djemali and Krimi detained pending investigation under articles 38, 39, and 41 of Law No. 40 of 1975 on Passports and Travel Documents for having “provided information, planned, facilitated or assisted…the illegal entry or exit of a person from the Tunisian territory,” “harbored persons entering or leaving Tunisian territory illegally,” and “participation in an organization or entente” to commit these offenses. On April 30, 2025, the investigative judge formally charged the 6 employees under the 1975 law, and on June 3, 2025, the Indictment Chamber expanded the charges to include article 42, which alone carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison.
Between May and June 2024, the authorities also froze the bank accounts of the council, Djemali, and Krimi, one of the defense lawyers told Human Rights Watch. The council has since ceased all activities and its frozen account meant it was unable to pay employees, service providers, rent, or electricity bills, leaving it in debt, a lawyer said. Djemali and Krimi’s accounts remain frozen, leaving them without access to their money and creating economic hardship. Djemali has been unable to access his retirement pension since 2024, his family told Human Rights Watch.
On November 25, 2025, the Court of First Instance convicted Djemali and Krimi under article 39 of Law No. 40 of 1975, which punishes “any person who harbors individuals entering or leaving Tunisian territory illegally” or “provides a place for their accommodation,” one of the defense lawyers told Human Rights Watch.
Human Rights Watch reviewed the judge’s closing order and found the charges to be based solely on the legitimate work of the council, which operated legally in Tunisia and was almost exclusively funded by the UNHCR. The investigative judge found the organization’s activities to constitute supporting migrants without regular status “to ensure their settlement in the country,” even though the council’s beneficiaries were asylum seekers and refugees registered with the UNHCR. The closing order referred to activities such as providing accommodation and cash assistance to refugees and asylum seekers, which are standard UNHCR activities in many countries, often carried out via implementing partners.
The abusive prosecutions and unjust convictions of the Tunisian Council for Refugees’ workers are part of a broader crackdown on civil society in Tunisia and a pattern of criminalizing aid to refugees and migrants. In 2024, security forces arrested at least six other nongovernmental group workers and prosecuted others in connection with their work combating discrimination or assisting refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants.
Since January 2026, at least nine civil society group workers have been sentenced to prison in connection with their legitimate work. A Tunis court sentencedSaadia Mosbah, a prominent human rights defender and president of the anti-racism association Mnemty (My Dream), to eight years in prison and a heavy fine on March 19 on financial criminal charges.
The authorities have virtually ended assistance and protection for refugees and asylum seekers in Tunisia. In addition to targeting and shutting down organizations providing support, in June 2024 they instructed UNHCR to suspend processing asylum applications. The country still lacks a national legal framework for asylum. As a result, asylum seekers have been left in legal limbo without access to international protection, exposing them to risks of arbitrary arrest and expulsion.
Tunisia is a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, which guarantee the rights to freedom of association, to not be subject to arbitrary arrest or detention, and to a fair trial. The African Charter also protects the right to seek and obtain asylum from persecution, and Tunisia’s 2022 Constitution guarantees the right to political asylum.
Tunisia is a party to both the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and the 1969 Organization of African Union Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa, which protect the rights of refugees and asylum seekers. They include prohibitions on penalizing people for irregular entry or stay if they promptly present themselves to authorities.
In a 2025 report, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination recommended that Tunisia review its legislative framework to ensure an open space for civil society organizations, including those working with ethnic minority groups, asylum seekers, refugees, and migrants.
“Aid workers should not have to live in fear of arbitrary arrest, prosecution, and years in prison,” Khawaja said. “Tunisia’s shutdown of asylum processing and targeting of organizations providing support is having a devastating impact on refugees and asylum seekers in the country.”
