The images of the arrest by hooded men of lawyer Sonia Dahmani on Saturday evening in Tunis shocked me. Also a columnist in Tunisian media, this lawyer is known to Tunisians for her use of humor, satire, and sarcasm when it comes to criticizing the regime of current President Kaïs Saïed. It is in this tense context that a demonstration was held this morning in Tunis.
The demonstration had been planned for a long time. It was organized by the National Salvation Front which brings together personalities opposed to Kaïs Saïed. The spectrum ranges from the left to the Islamists of Ennahdha. Initially, they had planned to demonstrate this Sunday to demand that a date be set for the next presidential election while President Saïed’s mandate must end in October, reports our correspondent in Tunis, Amira Souilem. The demonstrators are demanding an electoral calendar and an end to Kaïs Saïed ‘s “ coup d’état ”.
But the gathering took a different turn given the latest events in Tunisia, in particular, the spectacular arrest yesterday by hooded men of lawyer Sonia Dahmani.
Gathered at the headquarters of their order, at the House of Lawyers on Saturday evening, with their colleague Sonia Dahmani, the lawyers could do nothing to prevent these men from taking her with them. The scene unfolded before their eyes. They immediately gathered to express their solidarity with the lawyer and share their concerns as arrests and pre-trial detentions increase in Tunisia. For them, she was the subject of a kidnapping.
A “kidnapping”
Sonia Dahmani, everyone knows her and her derision when it comes to criticizing the current power to which she frequently opposes on TV and radio sets but no one could have imagined that she would be arrested in this way.
“It’s a kidnapping – yes, I consider what happened to be a kidnapping of Sonia Dahmani! At this time, we don’t know where she was taken. Other lawyers were molested and one of the lawyers was injured and transferred to hospital,” says a lawyer to his colleagues.
“The situation is serious, very serious…”
“… This is the first time, in the history of Tunisian lawyers, that we have entered the House of Lawyers in this way. This is unheard of! This evening, it was the bar association but tomorrow it could be any other professional representation. We can’t be silent! »continues the lawyer.
Faced with the brutality of the method and now worried for their freedom, Tunisian lawyers have announced that they will go on strike tomorrow, Monday.
Saturday evening, there were also two other arrests of media figures: Mourad Zeghidi and Borhen Bssaïes who were also questioned by the police and placed in pre-trial detention.
These are developments which lead Ahmed Nejib Chebbi, a major figure of the left in Tunisia, whom RFI was able to interview this morning, to say that the Tunisian regime is in the process of “multiplying tactical errors” and that it risks, he continues this policy of repression, of “strengthening the protest against him”.
In the middle of a demonstration this Sunday, the organizers announced that a member of their movement had just been arrested during this gathering.
To summarize, we could say that for NGOs, lawyers, politicians, and journalists… the feeling that prevails today in Tunisia is that any voice perceived as critical by the regime can expect to experience what Sonia Dahmani lived last night.