Tunisia | Pressure for Palestine solidarity in Tunisia

Tunisian demonstrators gather in Tunis for a rally in support of activists arrested in connection with the Global Sumud Flotilla and in solidarity with the Palestinian cause. Photo: IMAGO/ZUMA Press Wire On Sunday night, the Tunisian police are said to have arrested 15 participants in a demonstration in their homes, according to the “Maghreb Sumud Flotilla” association. Other activists who were involved in the demonstration are missing. The demonstration called for the release of the four activists who were involved in organizing the “Global Sumud Flotilla”. She left Tunis for Gaza in September last year. The “Sumud 4,” as the four activists are called, are on hunger strike.

"Wael Naouar is close to death, but his will to resist is unbroken," reports Bassem Trifi to the NGO Tunisian Human Rights League (LTDH) after visiting Naouar in prison. He hasn't eaten anything since August 16th and is barely conscious. In September, the other three activists, Ghassen Boughdiri, Ghassen Henchiri and Nabil Channoufi, who like Naouar had been arrested in March, joined the hunger strike. The group of four is accused of, among other things, money laundering. Lawyer and activist Ayachi Hammami, who was imprisoned for other reasons, began the hunger strike last week in solidarity with Naouar.

The solidarity demonstration for Sumud 4 took place on Saturday in downtown Tunis. “Solidarity is not a crime,” the protesters chanted, referring to the prisoners. The slogans were also directed against Israel, which the demonstrators described as a colonial state, and against the repression of the Tunisian regime.

Around 500 people joined the demonstration - significantly fewer than last year, when the Global Sumud Flotilla stopped in Tunisia. The flotilla sees the reason for this as the intimidation of civil society in Tunisia. After protests there are repeated arrests, so concerns about attending pro-Palestinian demonstrations are growing.

The fact that pro-Palestinian activists have been affected by the Tunisian government's repression of civil society has only been the case since this year.

The most recent report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) also says that the Tunisian authorities used “every means” to “close the freedom of civil society.”

The report also describes how accusations of economic crime are systematically used against civil society. It is part of Tunisia's anti-terrorism law. Economic crime is also the main accusation against the organizers of the Global Sumud Flotilla: they embezzled funds during the fundraising campaign for the flotilla.

In addition to the Sumud 4, Sana Msahli, Mohamed Amine Ben Nour and Jawher Channa were also arrested in March in the same connection. You have now been released on parole. The conditions imposed on Channa, who is married to Wael Naouars and has two children with him, include a residence restriction, a travel ban and a ban on speaking publicly. For the Sumud 4, the six-month pre-trial detention period was extended by a further four months on September 11th.

One of the Sumud 4, Ghassen Boughdiri, was sentenced in August to seven months in prison for damaging property and intentionally using violence during a protest against the logistics company Maersk. The reason for the demonstration was the arms transports to Israel carried out by Maersk.

The fact that pro-Palestinian activists have been affected by the Tunisian government's repression of civil society has only been the case since this year. Tunisia traditionally supports Palestine in terms of foreign policy and does not recognize Israel as a state. As recently as September 2025, the Tunisian authorities cooperated with the operation of the flotilla that traveled from Barcelona to Gaza and made a stopover in Tunis possible. Unlike Egypt at similar events, Tunisia had allowed people of different nationalities to enter and hosted large events related to the flotilla.

Then two drone strikes set the flotilla's ships on fire in the port of Sidi Bou Said, north of Tunis. According to the US news program CBS News, Israel was responsible. The flotilla was still able to set off towards Gaza. The arrests of Sumud 4 and three other activists in March took place in the context of preparations for another flotilla.

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