The number of arrests of Sumud Flotilla activists in Tunisia has risen to six, widening a crackdown on organizers as the group prepares a new Gaza-bound mission later this month. Flotilla member Ghassan Al-Hanshiri was detained on Saturday evening while taking part in a solidarity march calling for the release of the activists already in custody.
The arrests target key figures linked to the flotilla’s efforts to challenge the siege on Gaza and come amid broader criticism by rights groups of Tunisia’s shrinking space for political and civil activism under President Kais Saied.
Tunisian authorities had arrested since Friday five members of the Sumud Flotilla’s steering committee: Wael Nouar, his wife Jawhar Channa, Mohamed Amin Bannour, Nabil Channoufi, and Sana Msahli, before judicial authorities ordered them held for five days pending investigation.
Authorities are investigating the detained activists over funding sources, how donations were spent, and whether any of the money was used for personal purposes, Salah Al-Masri, a former participant in the Sumud convoy and a member of the Tunisian Network to Counter the Normalization System, said in press remarks.
The Tunisian delegation to the Global Movement to Gaza condemned the arrests, saying in a statement that the detentions, beatings, and use of excessive force, along with the barring of the Sumud Flotilla from using Tunisian ports, amounted to “a serious violation of Tunisians’ right to stand in solidarity with Palestinians,” and calling on authorities to release the detainees immediately.
It added that “its activists who took to the sea and faced the Zionists bare-chested will not be intimidated by campaigns of repression and arrests, and they will continue to support Palestine, whatever the cost.”
The arrests come as the Global Sumud Flotilla was preparing to launch a new mission at the end of March aimed at breaking the siege on Gaza.
In mid-September, vessels in the Global Sumud Flotilla sailed from Tunisia’s Bizerte port toward Gaza in an attempt to break Israel’s blockade and deliver aid, before the Israeli military intercepted the convoy, which included more than 500 activists from 44 countries, seized its vessels, and deported the activists after torture and intimidation.
The detentions also come amid mounting criticism of Tunisia’s human rights climate, with rights groups accusing Saied of expanding prosecutions to include opposition politicians, journalists, and civil society activists. Saied denies the accusations, saying freedoms are protected and that his measures target corruption and treason.
