Women Behind Bars: When Speaking Out Becomes a Crime in Tunisia

By Montaha Mohammadi

In a country that was once expected to champion rights and freedoms after its revolution, the voices of women in Tunisia are still being silenced behind thick prison walls. Many of these women are not criminals, they are activists, lawyers, and journalists whose only “crime” was raising their voices and defending human rights.

Behind the bars, scenes of humiliation, verbal and physical violence, deprivation of care, and endless threats are repeated.

Faces Behind the Bars
This report sheds light on the grim reality faced by women politicians and human rights activists in Tunisian prisons. From Saniyya Al-Dahmani and Abir Moussa to Sharifa Al-Riyahi, Shaza Al-Hajj Mubarak, and Saadiyya Misbah, women who have paid the price for their political and human rights positions amid official silence and justifications that violate international conventions to which Tunisia is bound.

What is happening is not a series of isolated incidents but rather a recurring pattern of systematic repression against any woman who dares to be active in public life. From field investigations and collected testimonies, a clear picture emerges of women deprived of their most basic human rights: dignity, justice, and the right to be heard.

Violations Against Saniyya Al-Dahmani
In the spring of 2024, lawyer and journalist Saniyya Al-Dahmani found herself in a cold prison cell after years of being a strong voice for justice and freedom of expression.

She was arrested following a satirical radio comment about the country’s situation and prosecuted under the controversial Decree No. 54 on charges of “spreading rumors that threaten public security” and “insulting state symbols.”

Despite her full cooperation with the judiciary, her office was raided without a written court order, and her personal files were confiscated, an explicit violation of her right to defense and professional confidentiality.

In the first hours of her detention, she was denied access to her lawyer before being transferred to Manouba Prison, where she was subjected to a humiliating body search and forced to wear a prison uniform without any legal justification.

Inside prison, Saniyya was placed in solitary confinement for several consecutive days, during which she was denied family visits, medical care, and access to her clients’ cases, despite the law guaranteeing these rights. “They wanted to silence my voice, so they tried to break my dignity first,” Saniyya wrote in a short message smuggled from behind bars.

Violations Against Saadiyya Misbah
From inside Belli Prison in the governorate of Nabeul, activist Saadiyya Misbah sent a distressing letter revealing the harsh reality she endures.

She stated that she had not been informed of the decision issued by the indictment chamber even after more than two months, describing this as a denial of her constitutional right to information and an insult to her dignity. A financial expert was also appointed to her case without notifying her or giving her the chance to defend herself, raising concerns about the transparency of the proceedings.

Saadiyya also reported a lack of potable water in the prison and that inmates suffer from thirst, besides insufficient meals served as early as 4 p.m., the last meal of the day.

She was also deprived of her right to read and access books she had requested after a long wait, violating her right to culture and knowledge. Her message ended with a clear plea: “I demand a fair trial and to be treated as a human being, not a number in a file.”

Her testimony is not an isolated case but evidence of a broader reality in which women detainees are stripped of their most basic human rights.

Violations Against Sharifa Al-Riyahi
In one of the dark prison cells, journalist and activist Sharifa Al-Riyahi, also a mother, endures one of the harshest human experiences in Tunisian prisons.

She was arrested despite being a mother of two, one of them only two months old, leaving her deprived of her children’s embrace and her natural right to communicate with them.

Initially, she was denied face-to-face visits with her children and was only allowed after going through a long bureaucratic ordeal imposed by prison authorities. Despite repeated pleas, the appeals court rejected her request for direct visits, leaving her in severe psychological isolation.

Authorities ignored her status as a breastfeeding mother, turning her days behind bars into a daily struggle between suppressed motherhood and human pain. What Sharifa is experiencing is a blatant violation of international conventions, particularly the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which guarantees the right of imprisoned women to maintain family ties.

Violations Against Abir Moussa
On February 14, 2025, Abir Moussa was suddenly transferred from Manouba Civil Prison to Belli Prison in Nabeul, a decision carried out without any clear legal justification and without informing her family or defense team, despite her critical health condition requiring ongoing medical follow-up. This arbitrary measure constitutes a violation of her right to physical safety and humane treatment.

On April 28, 2025, Abir Moussa was notified of the refusal to allow her a direct visit from her daughter, even though a judicial order permitted it. She was verbally told that the refusal was due to her being accused of “assaulting state security” under Article 72 of the Penal Code. This decision is a clear violation of her right to family contact and deprives her of one of the simplest human rights as a detainee, further deepening her psychological suffering and isolation.

Additional restrictions have also been imposed on her right to defense and regular communication with her lawyers, constituting a breach of the principle of fair trial and international standards guaranteeing detainees’ dignity and their right to communicate freely with their families and legal counsel.

Violations Against Siwar Al-Barqawi
Siwar Al-Barqawi was arrested on September 27, 2024, and only three days later was sentenced to 12 years in prison, a sentence that the Court of Appeal later reduced to four years and seven months, with immediate enforcement.

She was taken to Manouba Civil Prison, where she was subjected to severe abuses, including physical violence that left bruises on her body. She was dragged on the floor and denied food and water.

Siwar remains imprisoned under harsh conditions. Sixteen separate cases have been filed against her, identical in content, in what appears to be an attempt to fragment her case and multiply her punishment.

Alongside Saniyya, Saadiyya, Sharifa, Abir, and Siwar, there are many other women whose experiences intersect in injustice, women placed under surveillance or detention for social media posts or peaceful activism. Some have endured psychological torture, denial of family visits, and isolation from their lawyers, according to testimonies from attorneys, families of detainees, and human rights defenders.

The abuses suffered by women political detainees in Tunisia constitute a clear violation of the Tunisian Constitution, particularly Articles 21 and 31, which guarantee the rights to freedom, equality, and expression, as well as international treaties such as the Convention Against Torture and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

What is happening inside Tunisian prisons today is not merely a series of legal violations but a reflection of a moral and human rights crisis that strikes at the core of the state. How long will free women voices be punished in a country that once proudly declared that “women are a red line”?

By: Montaha Mohammadi