Participants in a meeting organised on Friday in Paris by the Committee for the Respect of Freedoms and Human Rights in Tunisia (CRLDHT) affirmed that freedoms are more than ever under threat in Tunisia. This situation calls on human rights activists and members of civil society to stand together to block the return of the despotic regime, they recommended. Tunisian and French civil society activists took part in the meeting, which was broadcast live on social networks. The speakers considered that the law in Tunisia can no longer establish justice and guarantee freedoms, but is rather a tool in the hands of the dictatorship. In a remote remarks, lawyer and activist Ayachi Hammami pointed out that the President of the Republic had managed to destroy all the achievements of the revolution in two years, namely the foundations of the democratic system. He called on NGO's, political parties and human rights defenders to join forces to fight repression. He added that President Kais Saied is not the cause of the crisis facing the country. This crisis had been instigated by the elite and the political powers that had governed for the past decade. Hammami deemed it necessary to be self-critical before drawing up a programme based on development and economic and social growth. CRLDHT President Mohieddine Cherbib, who considers that freedoms in Tunisia are currently under threat, underlined the need to pool all efforts to resume the process of democratic transition. President of the Tunisian League for Human Rights (LTDH) Bassem Trifi pointed out that all attempts to unite the democratic forces have so far been doomed to failure. He warned that the revision of the law on NGO's with a view to banning their foreign funding is "another serious step towards further restrictions on civil society." Trifi announced that a rally will be organised on July 25, two years after the July 25 measures, as an opportunity to find ways of harmonising views and visions regarding what is happening in the country.
Source: Agence Tunis Afrique