The case seems straight out of a bad spy novel. Suspected of having established contacts with foreign diplomats with the intention of undermining state security, around forty people were indicted in Tunisia, the investigating judge considering that he had sufficient evidence to commit prosecutions.
The investigation, closed on April 12, targets leaders of the opposition to President Kaïs Saïed, lawyers, human rights activists, lobbyists and former members of the security services. The French writer Bernard-Henri Lévy is also wanted by the Tunisian justice system.
The file, to which Le Monde had access, is essentially based on exchanges considered suspicious between the accused and international diplomatic figures, such as André Parant, former French ambassador to Tunisia, Marcus Cornaro, the current representative of the European Union , as well as their counterparts in Spain and Italy. Diplomats from the United States, France, Germany, Argentina and Great Britain are also cited.
Two anonymous sources
The “conspiracy” affair, as the Tunisian media called it, began in early 2023 with the depositions of two people anonymized in the file under the initials XX and XXX. One is said to be a police “informant”, the other presents himself as a “witness”. Both made various accusations, without providing evidence, in particular accusing the incriminated personalities of having met secretly in Tunisia or in Europe with a view to overthrowing the regime of Kaïs Saïed.
The first arrests date back to February 11, 2023, when security forces arrested pro-democracy activist Khayam Turki, businessman and lobbyist Kamel Eltaïef, as well as Abdelhamid Jelassi, a former leader of the Islamo-conservative Ennahda party. Other figures were arrested in the days that followed, including several members of the National Salvation Front, the main opposition coalition to the president. All were placed in pre-trial detention, awaiting trial.
Many of these figures had no connection with each other, but their simultaneous arrest may have given the impression of coherence in the conspiracy. Since then, only the opponent Chaïma Issa and the lawyer Lazhar Akremi have benefited from conditional release, accompanied by a ban on travel and “public spaces”. Even though the charges mentioned in the file sometimes border on the absurd.
BHL accused of propagating “Masonic” ideology
Bochra Belhaj Hmida, feminist activist in exile and former president of the Tunisian Association of Democratic Women, is accused of spying in favor of Paris. These allegations, based on the testimony of XXX, would be reinforced, according to the file, by the fact that the French ambassador to Tunisia awarded him the insignia of Knight of the Legion of Honor in February 2022. A distinction which would have given him was granted by “French President Macron”, in order to thank her for having played a role of “liaison agent for the French intelligence services” and for helping to improve the image of the Islamo-conservative Ennahda party among officials policies.
Bernard-Henri Lévy, for his part, is accused of maintaining relations with the Tunisian lobbyist Kamel Eltaïef and of having interceded to prevent the production of phosphate in Tunisia for the benefit of other countries in the region – Morocco, which is not not cited, is implicitly referred to. He is also accused of having propagated “Masonic” ideology through charitable organizations and Tunisian personalities indicted in the case, in addition to working towards the normalization of relations between Tunisia and Israel and being a “member of Mossad,” Israel’s intelligence service.
The investigation file, which is based primarily on the statements of XXX, is a sort of “Noah’s ark”, denounces Chaïma Issa. “The anonymous witness cited people who have no connection between them and it has become a sacred text for Tunisian justice. And for fourteen months, there has been no element of evidence added, nothing has been incorporated into the file,” notes the opponent.
“The Face of Failure”
Although they are at the center of the case, the diplomats mentioned were not interviewed by the investigating judge, according to defense lawyers. In April 2023, the judicial center for the fight against terrorism even sent a letter to the chancelleries to reassure them about the application of the law, in accordance with international treaties. The investigation documents which were leaked to the media and on social networks at the end of February 2023 would have had no other aim than to harm diplomatic relations between Tunisia and several other countries, according to the prosecution.
The committee for the defense of political prisoners requested clarification from diplomatic representations concerning the interactions incriminated by the Tunisian justice system. But they did not respond. Several European diplomatic sources based in Tunis claim to have reacted directly to Tunisian officials and expressed their concerns, while explaining that they wanted to favor discretion.
Since the conclusion of the investigation, the defense committee has also accused the justice system of keeping the accused in detention illegally, the maximum period authorized for pre-trial detention, set at fourteen months, having been exceeded. For opponent Chaïma Issa, “what happened is a reflection of current Tunisia, the face of failure. They are incapable of putting together a file correctly. Even under Ben Ali and Bourguiba, it never happened like this and we are the ones paying the bill.”
On Tuesday April 23, the spokesperson for the anti-terrorism judicial center, Hanene Gueddes, warned against any media coverage of this case, threatening criminal prosecution for offenders.
