On 3 September 2021 Amnesty International reported on the apparent abduction in Tunis of Algerian Christian convert Slimane Bouhafs on 25 August 2021. He has since appeared in court in Algeria on undisclosed charges (
Amnesty International, 3 September 2021).
World Watch Research analyst Michael Bosch comments: "Bouhafs had previously been sentenced to three years in prison in 2016 in Algeria on blasphemy charges. After a presidential pardon in 2018, he fled to Tunisia and received UNCHR refugee status.‚ Although it is unclear who abducted Bouhafs, it is likely that Tunisian President Kais Saied, who suspended the cabinet and parliament in July 2021 and took over control of the country, had knowledge about the abduction since there are unconfirmed reports that Bouhaf was used as part of an exchange-deal. He may have been "˜forcefully transferred" in exchange for Tunisian politician Nabil Karoui, the runner-up in the 2019 presidential elections, who was arrested on 29 August in Algeria after attempting to enter the country illegally (
Al-Monitor, 3 September 2021)."
Michael Bosch continues: "It is said that Bouhafs is an active supporter of the "˜Movement for the self-determination of Kabylie" (MAK), which the Algerian government designated as a "˜terrorist organization" earlier in 2021. Whether that is true or not, it is a grave violation of international refugee law that a UNHCR-recognized refugee could be abducted from a democratic country, which Tunisia still claims to be. Such transnational repression is a very worrying sign. Saied has publicly declared that he "˜detests dictatorship" (
Al-Monitor, 10 August 2021), yet is seems that he has acted in a way that authoritarian governments like Turkey, Egypt, Iran and Saudi Arabia treat dissidents. If he allows international refugee law and the rule of law to be violated so easily, one has to fear for Saied"s real intensions with Tunisia."
