Event Summary
Following recent court hearings in Tunis, the court has rejected the applications for release submitted by Saadia Mosbah and Saloua Grissa, thereby keeping the two activists in pre-trial detention. The hearing concerning Saadia Mosbah took place on 3 March 2026. Mosbah is charged with “money laundering” as well as other financial-related charges, in addition to the offense of forming a criminal conspiracy. During the hearing, the defence submitted a request for her release pending the outcome of the legal proceedings. However, the court decided to reject this request, thereby extending his detention.
In the case of Saloua Grissa, where criminal investigations have been opened against Grissa and her association, the hearing took place on 10 March 2026. At this hearing, too, the lawyers requested her release on bail pending the remainder of the trial. The court nevertheless rejected this request and ordered that she remain in custody. These decisions mean that the two activists will remain in custody whilst legal proceedings continue, pending the next stages of their cases before the Tunisian courts. This situation continues to be closely monitored by certain civil society groups and human rights organisations. Members of civil society, activists and relatives of the detainees had also organised peaceful gatherings outside the court in Tunis and Bizerte during the hearings.
This refusal to release the two activists runs counter to the recent release of a number of civil society activists who had been in detention since 2024 (Chérifa Riahi, Ahmed Souab, Mohamed Jouu, etc.). This refusal fuels civil society’s fear of a renewed escalation of legal cases against civil society actors, especially given the latest arrests on March 6, 2026, of civil society activists working with the Global Flotilla. Indeed, civil society had interpreted the multiple releases of civil society activists during the January–March 2026 period as a sign of the government’s softening stance toward civil society and had hoped that this trend would extend to the last two civil society activists, Saadia Mosbeh and Saloua Grisaa, especially since the money laundering charges were reportedly dropped.