Urgent Action - Tunisia: Human Rights Defenders on Trial (Mustapha Djemali and Abderrazak Krimi)

On 24 November 2025, human rights defenders Mustapha Djemali and Abderrazek Krimi will face criminal trial before the Tunis Court of First Instance, along with four others. Mustapha Djemali, founder and director of the Tunisian Council for Refugees (CTR) and Abderrazek Krimi, CTR project manager, have been in arbitrary pre-trial detention since their arrest in May 2024 solely based on carrying out their legitimate work and exercising their right to freedom of association. The CTR, a Tunisian organization and implementing partner of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), provided essential assistance to refugees and asylum seekers in Tunisia. Tunisian authorities must immediately release Mustapha Djemali and & Abderrazek Krimi and drop all charges against them. Authorities must ensure that human rights defenders are able to freely carry out their work in a safe and enabling environment without any reprisals.

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Your Excellency, I write to you to express my grave concern over the prosecution of human rights defenders Mustapha Djemali, 81 years old, and Abderazzek Krimi whose trial opened on 16 October with their next hearing scheduled for 24 November 2025. They are facing unfounded charges of “forming an organization” to “assist the clandestine entry” of migrants into Tunisia and “providing them shelter”, offences that carry up to 13 years in prison. During the first court hearing on 16 October, the lawyers of Mustapha Djemali and Abderrazek Krimi defended their clients’ legitimate work and asked for their provisional release, a request which the judge refused. They also asked for an adjournment of the trial, which was granted for 24 November. Finally, the lawyers requested to summon UNHCR as a witness to confirm that CTR activities were in line with the cooperation agreement between Tunisia and UNHCR which the judge also refused. The charges against Mustapha Djemali and Abderrazek Krimi are based solely on the peaceful exercise of their human rights and their legitimate work at the Tunisian Council of Refugees (Conseil Tunisien pour les Refugies – CTR), a Tunisian NGO that worked with the Tunisian authorities and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to pre-register asylum seekers and provide essential assistance. Their detention is arbitrary as defending refugee and migrant rights, irrespective of their legal status, including by providing shelter, is not a crime. The authorities are misusing the criminal justice system to criminalize human rights and humanitarian work, contrary to international human rights standards on the rights of human rights defenders, as set out in the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders. Judicial harassment of human rights defenders is also contrary to the rights to freedom of expression and association guaranteed under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights both of which Tunisia has ratified. Tunisia is a state party to the 1951 Refugee Convention which gives refugees the right to identity and travel documents; work, housing, education and relief; and protection from sanction for irregular entry. I therefore urge you and your government to ensure the immediate release of Mustapha Djemali and Abderrazek Krimi and that all charges against them are dropped. I also call on your government to immediately cease targeted arrests of human rights defenders and allow them to freely carry out their human rights work in a safe and enabling environment without any reprisals. Yours sincerely,
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Urgent Action – Tunisia: Human Rights Defenders on Trial (Mustapha Djemali and Abderrazak Krimi)

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Urgent Action – Tunisia: Human Rights Defenders on Trial (Mustapha Djemali and Abderrazak Krimi)

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