Tunisia: End Judicial Harassment of the President of the Tunisian Judges’ Association

Tunisia: End Judicial Harassment of the President of the Tunisian Judges’ Association On August 21, Judge Anas Hmedi, President of the Tunisian Judges’ Association (Association des Magistrats Tunisiens, AMT), is set to appear before an investigating judge at the Kef Court of First Instance, facing charges of “inciting to cease work” arising from a judicial strike in 2022, seven human rights groups said today. The undersigned human rights organizations call on the Tunisian authorities to drop the charges against Anas Hmedi and end all forms of harassment against judges exercising their rights to peaceful freedom of expression, assembly, and association. This politicized prosecution and relentless targeting of the President of the Tunisian Judges’ Association are acts of retaliation against the association's vocal stance against the assault on judicial independence and the executive’s systematic interference with the judiciary, which has been ongoing since the President’s power grab on 25 July 2021, the groups said. Since July 2021, Hmedi, who serves at the Monastir Court of Appeal, has first been targeted along with other judges by what appears to be a defamation campaign, then subjected to arbitrary disciplinary proceedings and a criminal prosecution. The authorities started escalating their harassment against Hmedi after he co-organized a judges’ strike in June 2022 - in his capacity as president of the AMT - to protest the arbitrary dismissal of 57 magistrates (judges and prosecutors) by president Kais Saied. In particular, the General Inspectorate of the Justice ministry repeatedly summoned him for questioning in connection with his associative activities. In July 2022, the prosecution’s office at the Monastir Court of First Instance requested that the Temporary High Judicial Council (THJC) lift Hmedi’s judicial immunity to enable his prosecution on criminal charges related to his purported “obstruction of work” and “incitement” of other judges of the Monastir Court to strike. The request was made following a lawyer’s complaint related to events on June 13, 2022, when Hmedi peacefully stepped in during a hearing at the Monastir Court to ask a judge to suspend his work and join the strike, a request to which the judge responded positively, according to one of Hmedi’s lawyers, Faouzi Maalouli. The judges’ strike lasted four weeks during June-July 2022. On September 20, 2022, the THJC lifted Hmedi’s judicial immunity. Subsequently, in October 2022, the deputy prosecutor at the Monastir Court of First Instance opened a criminal investigation against him under article 136 of the Tunisian Criminal Code for “inciting [a judge] by violence, assault, threats, or fraudulent practices to cease performing their individual or collective duties,” an offense punishable by three years’ imprisonment and a fine.