Alkarama has sent a letter to the Permanent Mission of Tunisia to the United Nations Office in Geneva, asking it to engage with the Tunisian authorities to ensure the implementation of Opinions No. 2/2025 and No. 63/2025 issued by the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD), concerning Mr. Rached Ghannouchi and Mr. Bechir Akremi respectively.
This initiative is part of the follow-up procedure relating to opinions adopted by the Working Group. Indeed, despite the conclusions reached by UN experts, including first and foremost the call for their immediate release, Mr. Ghannouchi and Mr. Akremi remain in detention to this day.
In this context of continued non-compliance with UN opinions, Alkarama has contacted the Permanent Mission to remind it of the Working Group’s findings and to urge it to intervene with the relevant Tunisian authorities to secure their immediate execution.
In its letter, Alkarama highlighted the key role of the Permanent Mission in Geneva, which serves as the institutional link between UN mechanisms and national authorities. As the official counterpart to the Human Rights Council and its special procedures, the Permanent Mission plays an essential diplomatic role in conveying the recommendations and opinions issued by UN experts and promoting their effective implementation at the national level.
Arbitrary detentions denounced by the United Nations
Regarding Judge Bechir Akremi, the WGAD concluded in Opinion No. 2/2025 that his deprivation of liberty was arbitrary and called for his immediate release as well as appropriate compensation. The UN experts notably found that his arrest and the proceedings against him took place in a context marked by threats to judicial independence and pressure on members of the judiciary. However, despite this opinion, issued following actions by Alkarama and AVTT, Mr. Akremi remains detained.
As for Mr. Rached Ghannouchi, President of the Tunisian Parliament, the WGAD adopted Opinion No. 63/2025, also concluding that his detention was arbitrary and calling for his immediate release. Following the requests submitted by Alkarama and AVTT, the Working Group considered that his detention stemmed from the peaceful exercise of his fundamental rights and reflected the political instrumentalization of justice. Once again, despite the conclusions of UN experts, Mr. Ghannouchi remains in detention.
Through this initiative, Alkarama recalled that Tunisia, as a State party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, is required to comply in good faith with the obligations arising from it, in accordance with the principle of pacta sunt servanda. The implementation of WGAD opinions is therefore a key issue for the credibility of the Tunisian authorities and their genuine willingness to cooperate with United Nations mechanisms.