Tunisian aid workers face trial for assisting migrants

Tunisian aid workers face trial for assisting migrants
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Six aid workers from a group that helps migrants and refugees went on trial in Tunisia Thursday accused of aiding irregular migration into the country, a key transit point for those seeking to reach Europe.

According to Arab News, the accused work for the Tunisian Refugee Council (TRC), an aid organization that partnered with the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, to screen asylum applications in Tunisia.

Migration is a sensitive issue in Tunisia, which saw a series of racially motivated attacks after President Kais Saied warned in 2023 that “hordes of illegal migrants,” many from sub-Saharan Africa, posed a demographic threat to the Arab-majority country.

Tunisian and international rights groups condemned the trial, saying it criminalized helping refugees and migrants.

Four other employees were charged in the case but have not been held in custody.

They are all charged with “sheltering” migrants and “facilitating illegal entry” into Tunisia, according to a lawyer.

The defendants were arrested in May 2024 along with about a dozen humanitarian workers, including members of French group Terre d’Asile and anti-racist organization Mnemty, who are awaiting trial.

The lawyers have described the trial as “arbitrary” and a “violation of Tunisia’s international obligations.”