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A Tunisian court has ordered one of the country’s most prominent human rights organizations to halt its activities for a month, its spokesman said.
Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights – known as French FTDES – the acronym – is the latest organization to come under pressure in Tunisia, where a once-vibrant civil society following the Arab Spring has steadily weakened during the tenure of President Kais Saied.
The order comes just days after a similar suspension of the prominent feminist organization, the Tunisian Association for Democratic Women, or ATFD.
Romdhan Ben Amor, a FTDES spokesman, told The Associated Press on Monday that he considered the move an attempt to divert attention from major national issues, particularly the ongoing environmental protests in the city of Gabes. Targeting human rights groups like FTDES, he said, is “yet another conspiracy theory… aimed at tarnishing individual and social rights and freedom defenders.”
He said he believed the group was targeted because of its stances on two issues: the migration crisis and the prosecution of politicians and opposition figures in Tunisia’s high-profile “conspiracy against state security” cases. Ben Amor said FTDES has always complied with financial transparency laws.
FTDES plans to appeal the suspension, he said.
The one-month suspension order against FTDES and ATFD is the latest in a series of measures that critics say are aimed at curbing the work and independence of civil society organizations since Saied’s unification of all branches of power in 2021.
As president, he has frequently cited foreign funding as a threat to Tunisia, using it to promote a populist narrative and accusing his political opponents and social justice activists of being foreign agents and fomenting unrest at home.
FTDES is one of dozens of NGOs that have been hit by successive financial and tax audits over the past few months. Authorities have repeatedly accused him of receiving foreign funds to serve foreign interests and meddling more in the country’s domestic affairs.