SAADIA
MOSBAH

Editorial update · 13 May 2026 — On 19 March 2026 the Tunis Court of First Instance sentenced Mosbah, president of the anti-racism organisation Mnemty, to eight years in prison and imposed a fine of over €36,000, after nearly two years of arbitrary pretrial detention. Several Mnemty members received additional sentences totalling nearly twenty years combined. A court-mandated financial expert had previously concluded the association's finances were lawful, transparent, and limited in scale. Mosbah remains detained in Belli prison and has reported racist abuse during her detention.

Background and Work

Saadia Mosbah is one of Tunisia's most established human rights defenders. Her work against racial discrimination began during the presidency of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, when challenging state narratives carried significant personal risk. She continued that work into the post-2011 transition, founding the association Mnemty in 2013 to formalize and expand advocacy for marginalized communities.

Mnemty played a central role in securing the adoption of Tunisia's Anti-Racial Discrimination Law on 9 October 2018. The law represented a significant shift in public policy, codifying protections that had been absent from Tunisian law. Mosbah's efforts also contributed to the official recognition of 23 January as the National Day for the Abolition of Slavery, a symbolic and political milestone that brought historical injustice into contemporary public discourse.

In recent years, Mosbah became a prominent critic of official language around irregular migration. She publicly contested statements by state officials that civil society organizations described as containing xenophobic and discriminatory elements. Her advocacy extended to defending the rights of migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers at a time when such positions attracted increasing scrutiny from the authorities.

Arrest and Charges

On 6 May 2024, security forces raided and searched Mosbah's home. She was placed in police custody for five days, a period that included an extension of detention. On 16 May 2024, the investigating judge at the Tunis Court of First Instance ordered her pretrial detention following interrogation.

Mosbah was charged, alongside eight members of Mnemty—including her son Fares Kablawi and the owner of the organization's premises—with money laundering under Law No. 26 of 2015, additional financial offenses, and forming a criminal association. The remaining staff members were released pending investigation. The investigating judge initially dismissed the charge of forming a criminal association and other charges against Mosbah and the staff. The Indictment Chamber subsequently overturned that decision, allowing the prosecution to proceed on all counts.

The charges coincided with the freezing of Mnemty's bank accounts and the suspension of its activities. The organization has been unable to operate since May 2024, affecting the communities it serves and restricting the space for independent civil society action in Tunisia.

Prolonged Pretrial Detention

On 12 March 2025, during the first hearing before the investigating judge, Mosbah's pretrial detention was extended by an additional four months. The defense presented evidence of her fragile health and chronic illnesses requiring specialized care. The judge denied her request for provisional release. Requests to lift the freeze on her personal bank account—so that she could access her salary—were also rejected on procedural grounds, as the case was pending before the Court of Cassation.

On 22 December 2025, the Criminal Chamber postponed the trial to 26 February 2026 and again denied her release. As of that date, Mosbah had spent nearly twenty months in pretrial detention without trial or conviction.

Article 85 of the Tunisian Code of Criminal Procedure establishes that pretrial detention is an exceptional measure, subject to strict conditions of necessity, proportionality, limited duration, and judicial justification. The prolonged detention of Saadia Mosbah in the absence of detailed and compelling judicial reasoning raises serious concerns regarding the presumption of innocence and fair trial guarantees. The measure appears inconsistent with Article 35 of the 2022 Tunisian Constitution, which guarantees protection against arbitrary detention and requires that deprivation of liberty be strictly regulated by law and subject to full respect for the rights of the defense.

Health and Conditions

Mosbah suffers from chronic health conditions that require specialized medical care. The exact place of her detention has not been publicly disclosed. Her defense has repeatedly raised concerns about her health in court filings, arguing that her continued detention poses serious risks. Those concerns have not resulted in her release or in any publicly documented adjustment to her conditions of detention.

Legal Proceedings and Fair Trial Concerns

The procedural history of the case raises concerns about judicial independence and respect for fair trial standards. The Indictment Chamber's decision to reinstate charges initially dismissed by the investigating judge, combined with repeated extensions of pretrial detention and denial of release despite documented health concerns, suggests a departure from the exceptional and time-limited character that pretrial detention is supposed to maintain under Tunisian law.

Tunisia is a State Party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Article 9 of the ICCPR guarantees the right to liberty and security of person, protection against arbitrary detention, and the right to trial within a reasonable time or release. Article 14 protects the right to a fair and public hearing before a competent, independent, and impartial tribunal. The circumstances of Mosbah's prolonged pretrial detention and the restrictive measures imposed on her personal finances raise questions about compliance with these standards.

Context and Pattern

The case against Saadia Mosbah and Mnemty forms part of a broader pattern of judicial pressure against civil society actors in Tunisia. Financial and criminal charges have been used with increasing frequency to target organizations and individuals engaged in advocacy on migration, racial justice, and government accountability. The effect has been a demonstrable chilling of civil society activity and a contraction of space for independent human rights work.

The arrest occurred shortly after Mosbah's public criticism of official discourse on irregular migration. Multiple organizations documented the use of discriminatory and xenophobic language in official statements during this period. The timing and nature of the charges reinforce concerns that the prosecution is linked to her peaceful human rights advocacy and public defense of migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers.

International Standards

The UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders affirms the right of every individual, individually or in association with others, to promote and protect human rights. States are obligated to ensure that human rights defenders can carry out their legitimate activities free from retaliation, intimidation, or harassment. The continued detention of Saadia Mosbah, the repeated extensions of her pretrial detention, and the restrictive measures imposed on Mnemty raise serious concerns regarding Tunisia's compliance with these obligations.