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A Tunisian appeals court has ordered the release of prominent human rights activist Sihem Bensedrine, though she remains subject to a travel ban due to other ongoing legal cases.
Bensedrine, 74, was the head of the now-defunct Truth and Dignity Commission (IVD), which was responsible for investigating human rights abuses committed by past autocratic regimes.
She had been detained since August on charges of allegedly falsifying the commission’s final report, published in 2020.
Authorities also accused her of accepting a bribe to include a section in the report that accused the Franco-Tunisian Bank (BFT) of corruption—an allegation she has denied.
Her husband, Omar Mestiri, welcomed the court’s decision, telling AFP that while Bensedrine had suffered, she remained in good spirits and was determined to fight to assert her rights.
He was on his way to Manouba prison, near Tunis, to await her release.
Earlier this year, Bensedrine staged a hunger strike to protest her detention, leading to her hospitalisation after 10 days.
The IVD was established in 2014, following Tunisia’s 2011 revolution, to document human rights violations committed between 1955 and 2013, covering the authoritarian rule of presidents Habib Bourguiba and Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
The court’s decision comes over growing international criticism of Tunisia’s crackdown on political opponents.
On Tuesday, the United Nations human rights chief condemned what he called the “persecution of political opponents” and urged Tunisian authorities to halt a wave of arrests and arbitrary detentions.
