In Tunisia, activist Chaïma Issa was arrested Saturday during a protest in Tunis denouncing growing restrictions on free expression. Her lawyers say plainclothes officers seized her and pushed her into a vehicle as hundreds rallied in the capital.
Authorities say Issa was taken into custody to enforce a final court ruling in a case alleging a plot against state security. She was recently sentenced to 20 years in prison by the Tunis Court of Appeal.
The arrest comes a day after dozens of opposition figures received heavy sentences in what Human Rights Watch calls a “political trial.”
Rights groups say freedoms in Tunisia have sharply declined since President Kaïs Saïed assumed sweeping powers in 2021.
Dozens of Saied critics have been prosecuted or jailed, including on terrorism-related charges and under a law the president enacted in 2022 to prohibit “spreading false news”.
