As President Kais Saied tightens his authoritarian grip, Tunisians take to the streets in the largest wave of demonstrations since his 2021 power grab — but the tools of resistance are shrinking fast
Fifteen years after the Arab Spring ignited a revolution that once made Tunisia the world's brightest democratic hope, the North African nation is burning again — this time not with the euphoria of uprising, but with the fury of a people watching their hard-won freedoms systematically dismantled.
Demonstrations have erupted across Tunisia, from the capital Tunis to the industrial city of Gabès, fuelled by a cascading series of political crises: mass political trials handing out sentences of up to 66 years, the forced shuttering of the country's most respected civil society organizations, the imprisonment of journalists, lawyers, and opposition leaders, and an economy offering little hope to an increasingly desperate population.
A Nation's Democratic Flame Flickering Out
Fifteen years after Tunisia's revolution, Tunisians again face the same conditions that fuelled their revolt: a poor economy, a repressive regime, and a lack of hope. Yet the situation today carries a far darker hue than 2011. The factors that had facilitated Tunisia's revolution and transition to democracy — a supportive military, a strong civil society, and a cooperative political class — have largely disappeared.
The roots of the current crisis trace back to July 25, 2021, when President Saied dismissed parliament and Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi, executing what critics called a successful self-coup. Since declaring emergency powers in 2021, Saied has turned Tunisia's political system into one that has not abolished institutions outright, but has weaponized them in a significant way — a trend that has only accelerated into 2026.
The consequences have been severe and quantifiable. Freedom of expression and association and assembly rights have each dropped to just 4 out of 10 in international governance indices — down from 5 in the previous edition. Tunisia now faces a questionable future in which elections are devoid of competition, the judiciary has little independence from the president, and opposition and media figures are subject to arrest for even lukewarm criticisms of the regime, while the public increasingly feels hopeless and disillusioned.
The Spark: The 'Conspiracy Case' and Its Staggering Sentences
The trigger for the latest mass protests was a series of explosive political trials that shocked even seasoned observers of Tunisian politics. On April 19, a Tunis court sentenced 37 people — including lawyers, political opponents, activists, researchers, and businessmen — to between 4 and 66 years in prison in a politically motivated case known as the "Conspiracy Case." They were accused of "conspiracy against internal and external State security" and terrorism for allegedly plotting to overthrow the government. The court issued the sentences in a mass trial after just three sessions, without providing the defendants an adequate opportunity to present their defenses and without other due process protections.
The list of the condemned is a Who's Who of the elite of lawyers, politicians, human rights activists, and entrepreneurs who flourished in the previous decade of Tunisia's genuine, if wobbly, democracy. Among the most prominent victims: six opposition political figures — including Khayyam Turki, sentenced to 35 years — while the Tunis Court of Appeal upheld the convictions of 34 defendants ranging from five to 45 years in the same conspiracy case.
In the days that followed the sentencing, plainclothes police officers violently arrested political activist Chaima Issa while she was at a peaceful demonstration in Tunis. Three days later, police arrested human rights lawyer Ayachi Hammami from his home. And shortly after, prominent opposition figure Ahmed Nejib Chebbi was taken from his home as well.
Human rights groups argue that the entire case is politically motivated — a view shared by Amnesty International, which condemned the verdicts as lacking fundamental procedural guarantees.
NGOs Under the Hammer: Dismantling Civil Society
While the political trials have grabbed international headlines, the Saied government has simultaneously been conducting a quieter — but equally devastating — campaign to obliterate Tunisia's civil society infrastructure.
On April 24, Tunisian authorities suspended operations of the Tunisian League for Human Rights, a longstanding refuge for human rights defenders and a member of the National Dialogue Quartet that won the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize. The league described the decision as "a serious and arbitrary violation of freedom of association" and "a direct assault" on one of Tunisia's key democratic gains.
The Tunisian League for Human Rights joins a long list of at least 20 civil society organizations arbitrarily suspended since July 2025, in an unprecedented crackdown and a clear weaponization of the country's administrative and legal processes. On May 5, Avocats Sans Frontières (Lawyers Without Borders), a prominent NGO based in Tunis, received a similar court-ordered suspension notice — with devastating consequences for the hundreds of people relying on its legal aid services, the only operation of its kind in the country.
Over the past two years, authorities have increasingly targeted organizations working on human rights, migration, anti-racism, election monitoring, corruption, media freedom, and social justice. What began with intimidation, arbitrary restrictions, asset freezes, and politically motivated criminal prosecutions has now evolved into attempts to use judicial means to eliminate NGOs altogether.
Tunisian authorities justified the suspensions by citing alleged administrative and financial irregularities. However, rights groups argue that the measures are politically motivated and part of a broader pattern of increasing restrictions on dissent. President Saied has repeatedly pointed to foreign funding — often relied upon by rights organizations — as a national threat, using this narrative to accuse political opponents and civil society actors of acting as foreign agents and inciting instability.
In the case of Al Khatt, the organization behind the independent investigative media outlet Inkyfada, after receiving a 30-day suspension order last July, they appealed the order in court and lost. In April, the government petitioned for their dissolution. Dissolution proceedings opened on May 11, and the session was adjourned to June 1.
The War on the Press and the Judiciary
Journalists in Tunisia continued to encounter harassment and the threat of jail time in response to their work. Two broadcast journalists who had been arrested for their critical commentary in 2024 remained in prison well into 2026. Under Decree Law No. 54 of 2022, new prosecutions have been brought against journalists and online activists for criticizing public officials — prompting renewed warnings from UN experts and international press freedom groups about the shrinking civic and media space in Tunisia.
Reporters Without Borders ranked Tunisia 129th out of 180 countries in its press freedom index — a decline of 11 ranks compared to the previous year — highlighting increasing political pressure on newsrooms, tightening legislation, and a climate of fear and self-censorship.
The judiciary itself has not been spared. Tunisian authorities prosecuted Judge Anas Hmedi, President of the Association of Tunisian Judges, for a protest he organized against government interference. Speaking at a protest in Tunis, Mohamed Yassine Jlassi, former head of the Tunisian journalists union SNJT, described a climate in which repression has come to affect everyone: "Journalism has become a crime, civil society work has become a crime, political opposition has been criminalized."
Gabès: When the Environment Becomes a Battlefield
Away from the capital, a parallel crisis is unfolding along Tunisia's southeastern coast. Thousands of residents took to the streets in the eastern city of Gabès to protest against severe pollution caused by toxic smoke emanating from factories of the state-owned Tunisian Chemical Group. Police made excessive use of tear gas against the demonstrators. Despite the protests, the factories continued to operate.
Local media and civil society reported that hundreds of people, particularly children, were taken to emergency care with respiratory issues and other health complaints. The region has long suffered environmental degradation from industrial and chemical activity. Residents have claimed that emissions contributed to rising cancer rates, respiratory disease, and ecological harm.
Workers organized a general strike that temporarily brought much of the entire Gabès governorate to a halt. The plant is operated by Groupe Chimique Tunisien, a state-run firm that processes phosphates into fertilizers for export. The environmental and health repercussions caused by the facility have led to confrontations in the past, and in 2017, the government promised to relocate the plant — a pledge it has never fulfilled.
The People's Response: Taking to the Streets
According to the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights (FTDES), nearly 5,000 protest actions have occurred since the start of 2026 alone. Despite the growing risks associated with public demonstrations, Tunisians have participated in multiple anti-government protests throughout the year, refusing to be silenced.
Demonstrators displayed a banner reading "Our history will not be halted, and our message does not freeze" during a rally outside the Court of First Instance in Tunis on May 6, 2026, following authorities' suspension of the Tunisian League for Human Rights.
In an effort to consolidate fractured resistance, family members of political prisoners from various factions announced the creation of a new collective — the National Coordination for the Liberation of Political Prisoners — aimed at uniting efforts for their release and bringing together various opposition groups whose internal disagreements had previously impeded a viable, unified resistance.
The political significance of these protests, analysts say, hinges on three factors: sustained momentum that mobilizes the urban middle, professional, labor, and business sectors; a process of elite defection from within the regime itself; and a readiness of security forces to refrain from using force against demonstrators.
The World Speaks Out — But Saied Doesn't Listen
The international community has grown increasingly alarmed. UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk urged Tunisian authorities to halt their persecution of civil society organizations, journalists, human rights activists, and members of the judiciary. He stated: "The continued repression and restrictions on civic space by the Tunisian authorities undermine the rights of people protected under the country's Constitution and its international human rights obligations."
Türk further urged the Tunisian authorities to release immediately and unconditionally all those detained or imprisoned for having expressed their views, and to lift all arbitrary restrictions on the freedoms of expression and association. He also encouraged efforts by Tunisian lawmakers to amend the 2022 decree-law being used to criminalize protected speech, and reminded the government that "Tunisia's democratic and human rights gains after 2011 must be maintained, not progressively dismantled."
Human Rights Watch called on Tunisian authorities to reverse the suspensions and uphold protections for freedom of association and expression, urging international partners to continue monitoring developments in Tunisia closely and to support independent civil society actors working to preserve democratic values.
Meanwhile, Tunisia has moved to cut itself off from international accountability mechanisms altogether. The government communicated its decision to withdraw its declaration under Article 34(6) of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights. When the withdrawal came into effect in March 2026, it effectively prevented individuals and NGOs from bringing cases against Tunisia before the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights.
A Nation at a Crossroads
Few predict that Saied will soon be ousted. Many Tunisians are choosing migration over mobilization, and among those leaving in greater numbers are skilled workers, raising serious concerns about a devastating national brain drain. Tunisia's transformation from a democratic success story to a repressive authoritarian regime serves as a stark reminder that when democracies lack a strong foundation, they can be undone swiftly — even by those who once claimed to champion reform.
The UGTT labor union — and civil society writ large — is a shadow of its former self, increasingly coopted and silenced. The institutional safeguards that once made Tunisia's post-2011 transition remarkable are being dismantled one decree, one suspension order, and one arrest at a time.
Yet, as banners fill the streets of Tunis and the smoke of tear gas mingles with factory pollution in Gabès, one thing remains unmistakably clear: the Tunisian people have not surrendered their voice. Whether that voice will be enough to turn the tide remains the defining — and urgent — question of this pivotal moment in the nation's history.
Illustration: Gemini