Tunisia’s Women under Kais Saied: Prison, Exclusion, Smear Campaigns and Exile, by Khawla Bou Kareem – 10 September 2026

From Daraj

Khawla Bou Kareem examines how women who oppose Kais Saied in Tunisia face not only prison, prosecution and exile, but also a second, unwritten trial of their reputations, bodies and private lives.

Another history of Kais Saied’s era in Tunisia remains unwritten. It is not only the history of constitutions and unlawful decrees, trials devoid of justice, or institutions dismantled or brought under control. It is also the history of the women who have lived through these years, in prisons and courtrooms, in exile, in the media, on the streets and across digital spaces.

Writing that history will take time. Books are not published overnight, testimonies require distance before they can be put into words, and memory does not move at the pace of those in power or of breaking news. What is certain, however, is that women will fill many pages documenting this period.

This goes beyond compiling the names of women who have been imprisoned, prosecuted, or subjected to smear campaigns. The more important question is this: when a woman enters into political confrontation with those in power, does she pay the same price as a man?

In Tunisia today, the answer appears more complicated.

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Khawla Bou Kareem is a Tunisian journalist.

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