On the morning of April 21, 2025, Ahmed Souab, a lawyer and former administrative judge, was detained after 10 members of the anti-terrorism unit raided his home.  Six agents remained outside the house, while the other four entered the residence, confiscated his phone, and escorted him to the headquarters of Bouchoucha. On the same day, and after a few hours in custody, the investigating judge at the judicial pole of anti-terrorism decided to arrest “Ahmed Souab” for 48 hours and prohibited him from meeting with his lawyer and from accessing the case files during that time.

It was under the provisions of Organic Law No. 26 of 2015, dated August 7, 2015, concerning the fight against terrorism, that Ahmed Souab was arrested and detained.

He faces charges including forming a group to commit terrorist crimes, providing any means such as websites, documents, and images of leaders and members of terrorist organizations related to the commission of terrorist acts, such as “ISIS” and “Al-Qaeda”, and assisting individuals who are under investigation, along with other charges outlined in Articles 13, 13 bis, 30, 32, 34, 37, 40, 71, 78 of Law No. 26 of 2015, and amended by Organic Law No. 9 of 2019, dated January 23, 2019.

In addition to this, he faces charges under Articles 32 and 222 of the Penal Code, as well as Article 86 of the Telecommunications Code and Article 24 of Decree No. 54.

This detention came after the appearance of Ahmed Souab on April 19 in front of the Court of Justice, where he spoke about the legal issues in the “Conspiracy Case” and the pressure placed on the judiciary.

In a press conference, his family stated that on the day Ahmed Souab was taken to his office on Rue de la Liberté in Tunis, he was accompanied by the investigating judge and the president of the regional bar association in Tunis to have his office searched and his devices confiscated.

And upon uncovering “communication” between him and his colleague related to their professional work, the investigating judge instructed a return to the victim’s home to confiscate all devices found there as well.

Additionally, on the evening of the same day, his house was searched, for the second time, by 15 agents of the anti-terrorism unit, accompanied by 3 SUV’s, where 10 agents remained outside the house, while the other 5 entered the residence, confiscated all his devices, and escorted his son to the headquarters of the anti-terrorism unit in Bouchoucha under the pretext that he needed to sign the police report. He was later on interrogated for a long period and questioned about the demonstration held in support of his father and its purpose, as he remained at the headquarters for several hours before being released.

On April 23, 2025, the scheduled interrogation of the victim was set to take place at the Judicial Pole for Counter-Terrorism. However, due to the large number of lawyers who had submitted requests to represent Ahmed Souab, the authorities barred all of them from attending the session.

The investigating judge requested the attendance of four lawyers and demanded their names in advance, an action that undermines the right to a fair defense and lacks any legal justification. In response, the president of the regional bar association in Tunis decided to boycott the hearing, along with the lawyers who collectively refused to attend the interrogation session. On the very same day, the investigating judge issued a detention card against him, leading to his placement in the prison of Mornaguia, and scheduled his interrogation date for April 28, 2025, according to his defense.

On 23 February 2026, Ahmed Souab was released upon decision of the Tunis Court of Appeal.

The case of Ahmed Souab is featured on Intersection Association for Rights and Freedoms "s "Faces of freedom" platform.

https://intersection.uno/freedom-faces/%d8%a3%d8%ad%d9%85%d8%af-%d8%b5%d9%88%d8%a7%d8%a8/