(AI Translated) On the morning of April 21, 2025, Ahmed Souab, lawyer and former administrative judge, was detained after ten members of the anti‑terrorism unit burst into his home. Six officers remained outside the house, while the other four entered the residence, seized his phone and escorted him to the Bouchoucha headquarters. The same day, after a few hours of police custody, the investigating judge of the anti‑terrorism judicial pole ordered “Ahmed Souab” placed in pre‑trial detention for 48 hours and prohibited him from meeting his lawyer and accessing the case file during that period.

It is under the provisions of Organic Law No. 26 of 2015, dated August 7, 2015, on the fight against terrorism, that Ahmed Souab was arrested and placed in detention.

He is accused, among other things, of having formed a group for the purpose of committing terrorist crimes, of providing means such as websites, documents and images of leaders and members of terrorist organisations linked to the commission of terrorist acts, such as “Daesh” and “Al‑Qaida”, and of assisting persons who are the subject of an investigation, as well as other charges set out in Articles 13, 13 bis, 30, 32, 34, 37, 40, 71 and 78 of Law No. 26 of 2015, as amended by Organic Law No. 9 of 2019, dated January 23, 2019.

In addition, he is prosecuted under Articles 32 and 222 of the Penal Code, Article 86 of the Telecommunications Code and Article 24 of Decree No. 54.

This detention follows Ahmed Souab’s appearance on April 19 before the Court of Justice, where he spoke about the legal aspects of the “conspiracy case” and the pressures exerted on the judiciary.

At a press conference, his family said that 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 dean of the Tunis regional bar so that his office could be searched and his devices seized.

After discovering “communications” between him and his colleague related to their professional work, the investigating judge ordered a return to the victim’s home to also confiscate all devices there.

Furthermore, on the evening of the same day, his home was searched a second time by 15 anti‑terrorism unit agents, accompanied by three 4×4 vehicles; ten agents stayed outside the house while the remaining five entered the residence, seized all his devices and escorted his son to the anti‑terrorism unit headquarters in Bouchoucha on the pretext that he had to sign the police report. He was then interrogated for a long period about the demonstration organized in support of his father and about his objective, and remained at the headquarters for several hours before being released.

On April 23, 2025, the victim’s hearing was to take place at the anti‑terrorism judicial pole. However, due to the large number of lawyers who filed a request to represent Ahmed Souab, the authorities barred everyone from attending the hearing.

The investigating judge demanded the presence of four lawyers and asked for their names in advance, a measure that infringes the right to a fair defence and lacks any legal justification. In response, the president of the Tunis regional bar decided to boycott the hearing, together with the lawyers who collectively refused to attend the interrogation session. On the same day, the investigating judge issued an arrest warrant against him, leading to his incarceration in Mornaguia prison, and set the date of his interrogation for April 28, 2025, according to his defence.

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

(AI Translated) The case of Ahmed Souab is presented on the "Faces of Freedom" platform of the Intersection Association for Rights and Liberties.

https://intersection.uno/freedom-faces/%D8%A3%D8%AD%D9%85%D8%AF-%D8%B5%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%A8/