Families of detained Tunisian dissidents filed a complaint on Wednesday with the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights to demand the immediate release of their relatives.
Since early February, Tunisian authorities have imprisoned more than 20 dissidents and personalities, including former ministers, in a crackdown condemned by the international community and rights groups.
Among those most prominent arrested is Rached Ghannouchi, head of Ennahda and one of the main opponents of Tunisian President Kais Saied, who dissolved parliament in July 2021 and assumed full power. Ghannouchi, 81, was arrested in April and sentenced on 15 May to one year in prison on terrorism-related charges.
His daughter Yusra Ghannouchi, 45, who lives in the United Kingdom, told AFP that the accusations against her father, the former speaker of parliament, were motivated by "political and fabricated goals" and were part of Saied's attempts to "eliminate dissent".
While Kais Saied says the detainees are "terrorists" involved in a "conspiracy against the internal and external security of the state", opponents describe the arrests and convictions as a "coup" and a return to authoritarian rule.
Relatives of Ghannouchi and several imprisoned dissidents filed a complaint with the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights in Arusha, Tanzania, as part of an international campaign to demand their release.
"We hope that this will lead to their release and justice," Yusra Ghannouchi said in Nairobi on Tuesday ahead of a trip to Arusha, expressing concern for her father's health as he suffers from high blood pressure and is "no longer young".
Yousra Ghannouchi, like many other relatives of those arrested, called on the United States, the European Union and Britain to impose sanctions on Saied and a number of ministers "implicated in human rights violations".
Rodney Dixon, Ghannouchi's lawyer, and five other prisoners told AFP that "they are trying to defend their cases in Tunisia, but all the doors are closed." He added that the families wanted to go to court to prove that the imprisonment was contrary to the African Charter of Human Rights, and to demand their release.
"There is no justice under the regime there. That's why they have to turn to the African Court, which is expected to hear the case in June.
He stressed that detainees do not have regular access to lawyers and that they struggle to obtain appropriate medical care, and noted that "accusations of torture" against a detainee would also be raised in court.