by Nurat Uthman
The president of a Tunisian anti-racism association has been taken into police custody, an NGO and media reports said on Tuesday.
Her arrest came as authorities wage a campaign against sub-Saharan migrants in the North African country, expelling them from cities and other areas.
Saadia Mosbah, head of the Mnemty association, was being “kept in custody for five days pending investigation,” Tunisian Human Rights League chief Bassem Trifi told AFP.
Mosbah was arrested on Monday night and was being investigated over money laundering, Tunisian media reported.
She has been an outspoken defender of the rights of sub-Saharan migrants in Tunisia, particularly after a speech by President Kais Saied last year in which he denounced “hordes of illegal migrants” as a demographic threat.
Her arrest came just hours after Saied lashed out at organizations that defend the rights of sub-Saharan migrants in the country.
“The associations that cry today and shed tears in the media receive huge amounts of money from abroad,” Saied said at a meeting on Monday of the national security council.
“Most of their leaders are traitors and mercenaries,” he charged.
The authorities have raided several encampments in recent weeks, tearing down tents and expelling migrants.
The Tunisian Forum for Social and Economic Rights NGO said authorities in Tunis on Friday cleared encampments and expelled hundreds of asylum seekers, migrants and refugees, before busing them west to near the border with Algeria.
Tunisia is a key departure point for thousands of migrants who risk perilous Mediterranean Sea crossings each year hoping for a better life in Europe.
