Prosecuted and sentenced to prison; currently outside Tunisia
About
Position:Political activist and former member of the House of People’s Representatives (Hope and Action Movement)
Date of birth: August 26, 1981
Profession: Blogger, political activist, former MP, IT engineer
Nationality: Tunisian
Date Targeted
Current Status
Charges
Undermining the reputation of the army.
Committing an offensive act against the President of the Republic and undermining the morale of the army.
Cases and Violations
Case 1:
Charge: Undermining the reputation of the army
Judicial authority: Military
Details of the case: The case dates back to 2018, when the military court sentenced Ayari to 3 months in prison on June 26, 2018, because of a Facebook post criticizing the army.
July 30, 2021: Member of Parliament Yassine Ayari was arrested by a group of plan-clothes individuals without providing proof of their identities, according to what his wife confirmed to Shems FM radio. Ayari’s wife said that the individuals presented themselves as presidential security guards. He spent two months in Mornaguia prison for the case dating back to 2018, after the President of the Republic’s decision on July 25, 2021, to suspend the work of the House of Representatives and lift parliamentary immunity from all its members.
Case 2:
Charge: Committing an offensive act against the President of the Republic and harming the morale of the army.
Judicial authority: Military
The charges relate to Facebook posts after July 2021 in which Ayari described Kais Saied’s decisions as a “coup,” according to a statement from the Hope and Action Movement.
Details of the case: MP Yassine Ayari said on Monday, November 22, 2021, in a post on his Facebook page, that “the hearing in the military case brought against me by the coup has been postponed, a case related to blogs I published on July 25, 26, and 27 (an offensive act against the President of the Republic and harming the morale of the army) until February 14, 2022.”
Ayari wrote that he had gone to France for treatment, that the defense presented the court with a copy of the medical file, and that he was being treated for “the effects of the systematic maltreatment to which he was unjustly subjected during his imprisonment,” according to him. In the same post, he mentioned that he was going for treatment in France and not in Tunisia because “I do not have the right to receive treatment in my country. The health insurance has been suspended, by a higher order.” What is referred is the suspension of the right to the National Health Insurance Fund for all members of Parliament by a decision of the President of the Republic, Kais Saied, as previously confirmed and revealed to by other MPs who needed treatment.
February 18, 2022: Criminal Council of the Permanent Military Court in Tunisia ruled, following the hearing on February 14, 2022, “a total of 10 months’ imprisonment against the representative of the “Hope and Action” movement in the suspended parliament, Yassine Ayari,” for “violating the dignity of the army thus undermining its fighting morale, attributing false matters to a public employee, committing an offensive act against the President of the Republic, and insulting others via social media”.