Imprisoned Tunisian Opposition Leaders continue to seek justice before African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights

15/10/2026

Following the Government’s major crackdown on the Tunisian opposition two separate but parallel cases were filed before the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights in May 2023 in Arusha, Tanzania: Ghannouchi and Others v Republic of Tunisia and Akremi v Republic of Tunisia. In the first case four of the applicants are family members of leading Tunisian opposition politicians who are detained: Rached Ghannouchi (the former Speaker of the Parliament), Noureddine Bhiri, Ghazi Chaouachi, and Said Ferjani. The fifth applicant is the son of Ridha Bouzayene, whose death during a protest has not been effectively investigated by the Tunisian authorities. In Akremi, the applicant is the son of Bechir Akremi, a member of Tunisia’s career judiciary until his unlawful removal from office, following which he has been maltreated and detained.

In 2023, provisional measures were obtained from the Court to protect Mr Ghannouchi, Mr Bhiri, Mr Chaouachi, and Mr Ferjani, who have all been unjustly subjected to detention, prosecution, and maltreatment. The Court ordered that Tunisia ‘take all measures to eliminate all barriers that prevent the four [. . .] detainees, and their families, to have access to and communicate with lawyers and doctors of their choice’ and ‘furnish the four [. . .] detainees, their lawyers, and their families with adequate information and facts relating to the legal and factual basis for’ the detainees’ imprisonment. 

In 2025, the Court upheld its personal jurisdiction in Ghannouchi and Others and rejected Tunisia’s request for revocation of the provisional measures.

This month, additional submissions in light of these rulings were filed before the Court due to concerning recent developments. The Court’s attention has been drawn to Mr Ghannouchi’s repeated hospitalisations over the course of this summer, which has been extremely hot in Tunisia. There is evidence that, during the period in which Mr Ghannouchi’s health deteriorated and he required repeated hospitalisation, the Tunisian prison authorities had not adequately accounted for the extreme climactic conditions in their detention arrangements. During these hospitalisations, Mr Ghannouchi has been isolated by the Tunisian authorities from his lawyers and family members, to whom medical information has not been communicated despite it being requested.

It has also been argued in the latest submission to the Court that, not only have domestic remedies been exhausted in relation to Mr Ghannouchi, Mr Bhiri, Mr Chaouachi, and Mr Ferjani, but a recent ruling of the Tunisian Court of Cassion—which ‘rejected the final appeals of dozens of opposition figures, upholding prison sentences of up to 45 years for those accused of conspiring to overthrow President Kais Saied’—underscores the absence of judicial remedies in Tunisia that can avail those in the position of the detained relatives of the applicants in Akremi and Ghannouchi and Others.

Rodney Dixon KC and Sebastian Bates act before the Court for the applicants in Akremi and Ghannouchi and Others.