In recent weeks, small gatherings have become an increasingly common sight outside Tunis’s Court of First Instance. Some demonstrators call for the protection of freedoms in the country, while others are protesting against administrative suspensions they consider unjust. All point to a shrinking civic space that many activists and observers fear is becoming permanent.
Over the past two years, dozens of non-governmental organisations in the Maghreb country have been suspended for 30 days and threatened with dissolution by court order.
In the last couple of months, two major groups were targeted: the Tunisian League for Human Rights (LTDH), the oldest human rights organisation in Africa and a member of the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet, which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2015 for its role in the country’s democratic transition, and Lawyers Without Borders (ASF), whose headquarters are in Belgium.
The same fate also struck the Al Khatt foundation, owner of the investigative media Inkyfada. The independent outlet was first suspended for one month and is now facing dissolution proceedings, with a hearing scheduled for Monday.
“It all started in October 2025 with a sudden, one-month suspension designed to silence our publications,” Inkyfada’s editorial director, Manel Lassoued, told Middle East Eye.
