{"id":1934,"date":"2025-07-26T08:36:37","date_gmt":"2025-07-26T08:36:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/07\/26\/tunisia-an-open-air-prison-say-protesters-at-anti-president-saied-march\/"},"modified":"2025-07-26T08:36:37","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T08:36:37","slug":"tunisia-an-open-air-prison-say-protesters-at-anti-president-saied-march","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/07\/26\/tunisia-an-open-air-prison-say-protesters-at-anti-president-saied-march\/","title":{"rendered":"Tunisia an \u2018open-air prison\u2019, say protesters at anti-President Saied march"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Protesters carry portraits of political prisoners and a cage that organisers said represented the state of political life in the country.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Hundreds of Tunisian activists have protested against President Kais Saied, calling his rule since 2021 an \u201cauthoritarian regime\u201d that has turned the country into an \u201copen-air prison\u201d.<\/p>\n

The protesters marched in capital Tunis on Friday, marking four years since Saied made moves to consolidate his one-man rule in a country once known as the birthplace of the Arab Spring pro-democracy uprisings.<\/p>\n

Chanting the slogan, \u201cThe Republic is a large prison,\u201d they demanded the release of jailed opposition leaders<\/a>, including Rached Ghannouchi, head of Ennahdha, the self-styled \u201cMuslim Democrat\u201d party, and Abir Moussi, leader of the Free Constitutional Party.<\/p>\n

They are among dozens of politicians, lawyers, activists and journalists facing lengthy prison sentences under anti-terrorism and conspiracy laws. Others have fled the country, seeking asylum in Western countries.<\/p>\n

\"A
A man displays a sign as protesters rally against Tunisian President Kais Saied on the fourth anniversary of his power grab, in Tunis, Tunisia, July 25, 2025 [Jihed Abidellaoui\/Reuters]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On July 25, 2021, Saied suspended parliament, dismissed his prime minister and invoked a state of emergency to begin ruling by decree, ordering mass arrests and politically motivated trials to silence dissent.<\/p>\n

Though some cheered his efforts, critics<\/a> called the moves a coup and said the events marked the beginning of Tunisia\u2019s descent towards authoritarianism.<\/p>\n

Protesters also chanted slogans such as \u201cNo fear, no terror \u2026 streets belong to the people\u201d and \u201cThe people want the fall of the regime\u201d as they carried portraits of political prisoners<\/a> and a cage that organisers said represented the state of political life in Tunisia.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur first aim is to battle against tyranny to restore the democracy and to demand the release of the political detainees,\u201d Monia Ibrahim, wife of imprisoned politician Abdelhamid Jelassi, told the Reuters news agency.<\/p>\n

Prisons are \u201ccrowded\u201d with Saied\u2019s opponents, activists, and journalists, said Saib Souab, son of Ahmed Souab, the imprisoned lawyer who is a critical voice of Saied.<\/p>\n

\u201cTunisia has turned into an open-air prison \u2026 Even those not behind bars live in a state of temporary freedom, constantly at risk of arrest for any reason,\u201d he told Reuters.<\/p>\n

\"Demonstrators
Demonstrators display a banner as protesters rally against Tunisian President Kais Saied on the fourth anniversary of his power grab, in Tunis, Tunisia, July 25, 2025 [Jihed Abidellaoui\/Reuters]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 2022, Saied also dissolved the independent Supreme Judicial Council and sacked dozens of judges, a move the opposition said was aimed to cement the one-man rule. Saied said he does not interfere in the judiciary, but no one is above accountability, regardless of their name or position.<\/p>\n

In 2023, Saied said the politicians were \u201ctraitors and terrorists\u201d and that judges who would acquit them were their accomplices.<\/p>\n

July 25 also marks the anniversary of Tunisia\u2019s declaration as a republic in 1957. It later became the rallying cry of the pro-Saied \u201cJuly 25 Movement\u201d, which pushed for a crackdown on the country\u2019s largely unpopular political class.<\/p>\n

Samir Dilou, a former government minister and member of Ennahdha, said Saied had forever changed the day\u2019s meaning. \u201cJuly 25 used to mark the Republic\u2019s founding. Now, it marks its dismantling. Absolute power is absolute corruption,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Protesters carry portraits of political prisoners and a cage that organisers said represented the state of political life in the country. Hundreds of Tunisian activists have protested against President Kais Saied, calling his rule since 2021 an \u201cauthoritarian regime\u201d that has turned the country into an \u201copen-air prison\u201d. The protesters marched in capital Tunis on … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1935,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1934"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1934\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}