Name: Tunisia frees NGO worker Sherifa Riahi after 20 months
Uploaded: 2026-01-06T22:57:37.982Z
Duration: 2 min 10 s
Description: After more than 20 months in detention, Sherifa Riahi has been reunited with her family following her release from prison in Tunisia. The former director of the French NGO Terre d’Asile, along with two colleagues, was freed on Tuesday.

After more than 20 months in detention, Sherifa Riahi has been reunited with her family following her release from prison in Tunisia. The former director of the French NGO Terre d’Asile, along with two colleagues, was freed on Tuesday.

Tunis

Sherifa Riahi, a former director of a non-governmental organization, was released from prison in Tunisia after spending more than 20 months in detention. She was convicted on charges of facilitating the illegal entry and residence of migrants but was freed under a suspended sentence.

Riahi maintains that her work was lawful and aimed at assisting vulnerable asylum seekers through a state-approved program. Her arrest and conviction have drawn attention to Tunisia's increasingly strict migration policies and the criminalization of humanitarian efforts in the country.

Tunisia frees NGO worker Sherifa Riahi after 20 months

After more than 20 months in jail, Sharifa Riahi has been reunited with her family. The former NGO director was freed Tuesday under a suspended sentence over charges of facilitating the illegal entry and residence of migrants. She says she feels relieved. The conditions of detention weren't that bad, but it's a separation, it's the confinement, it's not having any news from the outside world. It's waiting a whole week to hear from your family. It's the fear of not seeing them come, it was hard. Migration is a sensitive issue in Tunisia, key transit point for tens of thousands of people seeking to reach Europe each year. It is the criminalization of humanitarian work that in my opinion is quite serious, because our only goal was to help people in extremely vulnerable situations and also help Tunisia deal with migration. Arrested in May of 2024, Riahi says she was lawfully helping asylum seekers under a state-approved program. We have existed since 2012 and have always worked closely with government institutions. We've even signed agreements and have received letters of appreciation from the prime minister's office. So personally, I don't understand this change. Perhaps it's a new policy. President Kays Saeed has taken a hard line on migration. In 2023, he warned that hordes of illegal migrants posed a demographic threat, remarks that sparked racially motivated attacks.

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