ZOHOUR AL-MASHREQI

Tunis_ Amid rapid political and rights-based transformations, the recent human rights discourse stands out as an alarm bell revealing the scale of systematic pressures faced by human rights defenders in Tunisia. These pressures are not limited to direct security prosecutions but extend to include precise media strategies aimed at reshaping public consciousness and distorting the image of activists.

These testimonies do not merely represent documentation of violations but are a clear call to confront the hate speech and incitement that now threatens the social fabric under the guise of "national interest."

This climate has provided fertile ground for currents calling for radical change, ultimately leading to exceptional decisions that shifted the balance of power and curtailed the space for political participation and public freedoms that Tunisians had gained. This transformation from the "hoped-for democratic model" to a state of political ambiguity reflects the fragility of democratic gains when not accompanied by genuine economic rescue and institutional stability that restore citizens' confidence in the viability of the democratic path itself.

In a testimony about her experience as a feminist and human rights activist defending women's and minority rights, Mouda Al-Jama'i shed light on the reality of civil and rights activism under current conditions in Tunisia, explaining that the suffering faced by human rights activists is not limited to field efforts but extends to become direct targeting of advocates, subjecting them to increasing pressures.

She strongly criticized the practices of the "state of law and institutions," pointing out that they create a reality of increasing restrictions on opponents, including disrupting work procedures and pursuing activists judicially.

She described the current state of the country as a "ticking time bomb" resulting from the authorities' policies, affirming that citizens—especially children—are suffering from the consequences of intellectual, physical, and psychological crises.

She reviewed the legal obstacles faced by activists, noting that she was prosecuted on charges of "disrupting work procedures" when attempting to sue major establishments, affirming that her urgent cases are repeatedly postponed without resolution.

Continuing her discussion of the rights and social reality, Mouda Al-Jama'i accused the authorities of disrupting hospitals and health facilities in certain areas, forcing residents to seek treatment elsewhere. She affirmed that this approach contributes to concealing the true figures of pollution-related diseases and exporting misleading statistics to public opinion.

The "Treason" Discourse and Prosecutions

She strongly criticized the authorities' discourse that classifies opponents as "anti-state" or "enemies of the nation," considering that this discourse is used as a cover to suppress legitimate demands and environmental and social rights.

She described the situation as the government following a policy based on "analysis, discussion, condemnation, and criminalization" of those demanding their right to a decent life, focusing on protecting the state's economic interests at the expense of the homeland and the citizen. She noted that their rights movement is based on demanding peoples' right to self-determination and environmental rights, stressing that their struggle has been ongoing for years and is not recent.

She continued to recount the facts regarding the situation of human rights work in Tunisia, pointing to the challenges and practices facing activists and civil society, noting that parties in power do not recognize previous paths of struggle but rather attempt to "gag mouths" through convoluted methods.

She explained that the authorities do not limit themselves to "demonizing" opponents but extend their practices to tightening the noose around their families and attempting to undermine their professional and personal interests. She affirmed that practicing human rights work, belonging to associations, and engaging in civil society activities have come to be used as a pretext to "intimidate" opponents and tighten the noose around them, even attempting to question their integrity.

Mouda Al-Jama'i stressed the need to hold onto struggle and continue previous rights-based paths, refusing to submit to the authorities' policies aimed at halting this movement, affirming the importance of solidarity among friends and activists at this stage.

A Lethal Environmental Situation

She spoke about sensitive environmental issues, specifically mentioning the Gafsa region, where she strongly criticized what she described as the "excessive and unnatural exploitation" of phosphate extraction operations, considering that the parties overseeing these operations—which she named the "Death Complex"—pay no attention to the safety of citizens or the environment.

She pointed out that this situation is exacerbated by the obscurity surrounding other projects such as "green hydrogen," which were passed and ratified in complete lack of transparency, raising serious questions about the real beneficiaries in the absence of any public involvement.

She highlighted the authorities' security approach in dealing with human rights and environmental protests, affirming that this approach has led to the imprisonment of activists and lawyers simply for demanding rights or seeking to expose abuses. She stressed that the current political system reproduces the same methods of repression, where the flaw lies not only in individuals but in the "system" that governs with its repressive mechanisms, making it a system that relies on restricting freedoms and confiscating the right to organize and express.

In conclusion, she called for an end to narrow individual thinking, considering that everyone is trapped in a "hellish loop" of ingratitude and escape from reality.

She affirmed that engaging in the "scorching loop" based on selling human lives at cheap prices does not represent a solution but further complicates the scene. Accordingly, she called for collective action away from selfishness and personal interests, focusing on radical change that protects everyone's future and puts an end to superficial solutions that do not address the core of the crisis.

She stated that the human rights scene in Tunisia is going through an extremely complex phase, pointing out that the "intellectual provocation" faced by defenders of rights and freedoms stems from attempts to impose specific intellectual frameworks that have no connection to freedom.

She stressed the tightening of the noose on human rights work, affirming that denouncing human rights violations or pursuing rights defenders is now met with a general atmosphere of intimidation, pushing wide sectors of elites and citizens to practice self-censorship for fear of security and judicial prosecutions.

She explained that the security handling of the street no longer relies on the application of law but has become a tool for pursuing opponents based on their political identity, fabricating malicious charges against them and smearing their reputations to justify targeting them before public opinion.

She warned of a methodology in targeting activists: women are subjected to defamation campaigns touching on "honor and sexual violence," while the weapon of "stigmatization" and questioning identity and affiliation is used against men to shake their self-confidence.

Frightening Media Analysis

Mouda Al-Jama'i stressed that the goal of misinformation is to "cover up violence cases," including femicides that have seen a notable escalation over the past six months. "This media does not only seek to obscure facts from public opinion but directly contributes to incitement against activists and human rights defenders through systematic defamation and slander campaigns serving the authorities' agendas."

She explained that the authorities work to exploit tools of intimidation to break individuals' will, as human rights defenders find themselves besieged between malicious charges and pressure exerted on them and their families. She noted that these practices have not succeeded in breaking the "will of popular struggle," citing the success of popular marches in the city of Gabès, which proved that the Tunisian street remains capable of confronting these methods.

She also stressed the need to distinguish between "genuine struggle" that confronts reality with courage and the "illusions promoted by the authorities" to impose self-censorship on citizens.

Mouda Al-Jama'i concluded by affirming that the "fear of security prosecutions" has become the greatest obstacle facing human rights defenders, calling for intensified efforts to confront what she termed the "poisonous media discourse" that seeks to legitimize violations and normalize violence against society.