Tunisia: humanitarian workers continue to be arbitrarily detained

In a shocking decision, on 16 October 2025, Mr. Mustapha Djemali and Mr. Abderrazek Krimi’s lawyers’ request for their immediate release from pretrial detention was rejected. They have been arbitrarily detained in Tunisia since May 2024.

Both Mr Djemali and Mr Krimi are long-term refugee rights defenders and, respectively, the founding Director-General and Project Manager of the Tunisian Council for Refugees (CTR), an implementing partner of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). In addition, Mr Djemali is over 80 years old and suffers from Horton’s disease. Both were arrested and are being detained for their legitimate humanitarian work. Their continued detention violates Tunisia’s international commitments under 1951 Refugee Convention and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and domestic criminal procedure.

As a reminder, pretrial detention in Tunisia must be deemed necessary as a security measure to prevent further offenses, as a guarantee of sentence enforcement, or as a means of ensuring the security of information. This is not the case here. 

The date of the next hearing was set on 24 November 2025. Legal Action Worldwide represents Mr. Mustapha Djemali and other detainees in Tunisia in international proceedings. This case illustrates a worrying trend towards the criminalisation of such work in Tunisia and elsewhere. Tunisia signed the recent Declaration for the Protection of Humanitarian Personnel; it is time for it to honor its commitments. We will continue to support the detainees and their families, and to call for their immediate and unconditional release.