Tunisia: Chaima Issa, the first female political prisoner under Kais Saied’s regime
Monia Ben Hamadi, reporting for Le Monde, on political activist Shaimaa Ben Aissa:
Sitting on a chair placed against the wall facing the judge’s office and surrounded by her lawyers, the 43-year-old activist refused to be intimidated. “This is Tunisia? This is the Tunisia where we studied, you and me? This is the Tunisia we dreamed of?” she said at the end of a long tirade filmed discreetly, part of which was broadcast on social media.
“She made everyone cry. Even the judge had tears in his eyes,” said Dalila Ben Mbarek Msaddek, one of her lawyers. “Just as he was going to issue the detention warrant, we all stood up. I told him: ‘You have just detained seven men, at least let Chaima free.'” But there was nothing to be done, the judge had made his decision: the activist would spend the night in prison. “She was downcast, she took her head in her hands, eyes downcast,” the lawyer described the scene.