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Hundreds of Sudanese refugees are cornered in the Zarzis olive groves, fearing local anger and hoping for UN protection. “I’m not a racist,” Gheriani says, “but it can’t continue.” He describes large numbers of refugees making their way down to the tourist beach, where they stripped off to wash their clothing in the Mediterranean. Mahmoud continues: “People tell us that …

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BARCELONA, Spain — Thousands of migrants and refugees have landed on the Italian island of Lampedusa this week after crossing the Mediterranean Sea on small unseaworthy boats from Tunisia, overwhelming local authorities and aid organizations. With Tunisia now the main launching pad for Europe, the island today is receiving around 70% of all migrants arriving in Italy, said Flavio Di …

Thousands have been expelled from Tunisia as tensions between local residents and Black migrants and refugees grow. In early July, Tunisian authorities forcibly expelled hundreds of Black migrants and refugees from Sfax, Tunisia’s second-largest city. Al Jazeera found many of them days later without food or water, wandering through the desert “no man’s land” on the border between Tunisia and …

TUNIS, Tunisia — Tensions spiked dangerously in a Tunisian port city this week after three migrants were detained in the death of a local man, and there were reports of retaliation against Black foreigners and accounts of mass expulsions and alleged assaults by security forces. Sfax, on Tunisia’s eastern coast, is a main departure point for migrants and refugees planning …

El-Heni is a well-known media figure in Tunisia and has been vocal about his opposition to President Kais Saied. Prominent Tunisian journalist Zied el-Heni has been arrested by an internal squad in plain clothes who stormed his home in a suburb of the capital Tunis, according to local media, amid an ongoing crackdown on critics of President Kais Saied. The …

Tunisian football player Nizar Issaoui, 35, has died from burns suffered after setting himself alight earlier this week as a protest against “police injustice”, his family said on Friday. Local media said that Issaoui decided to make his extreme protest outside a police station after officers accused him of “terrorism” when he complained about the price of bananas. A video …

Former constitutional law professor Sadok Belaid says constitutional chapters could pave way for a ‘disgraceful dictatorial regime’. The head of Tunisia’s constitution committee has condemned the proposed constitution put forward by President Kais Saied this week, the local Assabah newspaper has reported. Sadok Belaid, a former constitutional law professor named by Saied to draft a “new constitution for new republic”, …

Members of the judiciary say they live under a growing climate of intimidation following the president’s power grab. Supreme Judicial Council head Youssef Bouzakher on Monday said he had been informed by the Ministry of Interior of “serious threats” against him, local media reported. “The exceptional measures granted by the emergency decree are being used abusively and without judicial oversight, …

TUNIS, Tunisia — Tunisia’s president has announced a plan to dissolve the national judiciary body, claiming suspicions of corruption and possible mishandling of politically charged cases, local media reported Sunday. During a surprise visit to Tunisia’s Interior Ministry on Saturday night, Said blasted members of the judiciary, accusing some judges and magistrates of “corruption … nepotism … and stalling proceedings …