Tunisia News · Friday, 4 September 2026

Tunisia

Tunisia's top court rejects final appeals in mass 'conspiracy' case, upholding sentences up to 45 years

Tunisia's Court of Cassation rejected all 46 appeals filed in the case against more than 40 political figures and businesspeople convicted of plotting against state security, 44 on the merits and two on procedural grounds, closing the last avenue of appeal and finalising the November 2025 sentences that ranged from five to 45 years, with immediate execution for some defendants. The investigation opened in February 2023. When this paper reported the hearing being set down for 3 September, defence lawyers and the families' coordination group said they had learned the date only three days in advance.

Source: La Presse de Tunisie · Thursday, 3 September 2026

HRW: Tunisia has prosecuted at least 47 civil society figures and suspended more than 20 groups since 2024

Human Rights Watch says Tunisian authorities have prosecuted at least 47 people linked to non-governmental organisations since May 2024, with at least 14 convicted and imprisoned in trials held in 2025 and 2026, and suspended more than 20 associations including the Tunisian Human Rights League, the Tunisian Association of Democratic Women and I Watch. The 49-page report cites human rights defender Saadia Mosbah's eight-year sentence on financial charges in March as an example, and says the authorities are misapplying the 2011 law that was meant to protect freedom of association, after President Kais Saied repeatedly described foreign-funded NGOs as a threat to sovereignty.

Source: Human Rights Watch · Wednesday, 2 September 2026

Veteran singer Adnan Al Shawashi leaves intensive care

Veteran composer and singer Adnan Al Shawashi, a fixture of Tunisian music since the early 1970s, left intensive care on 3 September after a serious health scare that had confined him to bed, and apologised for missing this year's Carthage Sings festival. His name topped Tunisia's search trends the same day, a measure of how closely a generation still follows an artist who rarely makes political news.

Source: Mosaïque FM · Thursday, 3 September 2026

EU says it is 'concerned' after Tunisia's top court finalises mass conspiracy convictions

The EU's diplomatic service, the SEAE, said it took note of Thursday's Court of Cassation ruling 'with concern'. It said questions remain about fair-trial guarantees in the case, which involved opposition figures, activists and journalists. The EU also said it regretted that contacts with diplomats accredited in Tunisia, including Europeans, were used as grounds for prosecution.

Source: Webdo · Friday, 4 September 2026

Geopolitics

Congo's Ebola outbreak passes 3,000 deaths

The Democratic Republic of Congo's health ministry reported 6,186 confirmed cases and 3,007 deaths since the outbreak, caused by the rare Bundibugyo species of Ebola, was declared a global health emergency in mid-May. The Africa CDC says actual cases may be three times higher given weak surveillance, no approved treatment exists for this strain, and the government has begun distributing the Ervebo vaccine to frontline health workers in Kisangani as the virus spreads across six provinces.

Source: NBC News · Wednesday, 2 September 2026

Oil rallies on Hormuz risk as OPEC+ prepares to hold output steady

Brent crude extended its rally as renewed US-Iran strikes raised the risk of disruption through the Strait of Hormuz, with oil trading near $99 a barrel this week. OPEC+'s seven core members, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, Kuwait, Algeria, Kazakhstan and Oman, are expected to keep output policy unchanged for October at Sunday's meeting, completing the unwinding of one layer of production cuts and turning focus to 2027 quota talks as the war curbs the group's usual influence over prices.

Source: Reuters (Yahoo Finance) · Wednesday, 2 September 2026

Europe

Russia to shut three Goethe-Institut branches after Germany closes the Russian cultural centre in Berlin

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced Moscow will close Goethe-Institut branches in Moscow, St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg, retaliation for Germany shutting Russia's Bonn consulate and Berlin cultural centre after accusing Moscow of orchestrating the Leipzig airport drone plot. German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said Berlin had 'carefully prepared its response' and called on Moscow to show readiness for talks on Ukraine, while President Putin dismissed the drone allegations and said the evidence had been 'planted'.

Source: Euronews · Thursday, 3 September 2026

EU readies sanctions on 27 more Russian individuals and entities over deportation of Ukrainian children

The EU is preparing sanctions on 27 additional Russian individuals and entities over the deportation and forced transfer of Ukrainian children, adding to 16 people and seven entities blacklisted in May. Ukraine has formally verified over 20,500 deported or forcibly transferred children, Yale's Humanitarian Research Lab estimates around 35,000, and Moscow claims the figure could reach 700,000; advocacy group Bring Kids Back UA says children still under Russian control face 'indoctrination, militarisation and the erosion of their Ukrainian identity'.

Source: Euronews · Thursday, 3 September 2026