ProtectDefenders.eu has been informed that prominent woman human rights defender Ms. Sihem Ben Sedrine has started an hunger strike during her arbitrary detention.
The WHRD is the President of the Instance for the Truth and Dignity (IVD), a body created after the Tunisian revolution of 2010-2011 with the aim of investigating human rights violations committed by the Tunisian State from 1955 to 31 December 2013 – and has been a prominent human rights activist for almost 40 years. Ms Ben Sedrine, who led the transitional justice process in Tunisia from 2014 to 2018, has been in pre-trial detention since August 2024.
Ms. Ben Sedrine announced the start of her hunger strike to challenge her arbitrary detention on January 2025. In this occasion, she addressed the Tunisian authorities affirming “I will not bear the injustice that strikes me further. Justice cannot be based on lies and slander, but on concrete and tangible evidence. As a result, I am determined to pull myself out, though it cost me, of this black hole where I have been arbitrarily thrown. ”
On 22 January 2025, nine days after starting her hunger strike, Sihem Ben Sedrine was able to meet with family members and her lawyer, Samia Abbou. Ms. Ben Sedrine showed worrying signs of exhaustion and said that she had been placed under respiratory assistance by the prison doctors.
ProtectDefenders.eu recalls that Mrs Ben Sedrine has been constantly judicially harassed and is being prosecuted in six different cases. All these cases are related to her work at the head of the IVD, where she has investigated serious human rights violations in Tunisia. She has been in pre-trial detention since August 2024 with the accusation of having falsified the final 2019 report of the IVD.
Sihem Ben Sedrine’s health was worryingly deteriorating, while her arbitrary arrest continued, which seemed to be aimed only at punishing it for the exercise of her legitimate human rights activities.
Sihem Ben Sedrine was since released.
