•HRES 613 IH 
Whereas longtime politician Beji Caid Essebsi won the elec-
tion in a runoff with 55 percent of the vote, becoming 
Tunisia’s first president to be legitimately elected based 
on universal suffrage since independence; 
Whereas President Essebsi and the elected parliament faced 
many difficult challenges, including economic turmoil, 
terrorist attacks, and public expectations for change; 
Whereas public disillusionment with the country’s political 
elites increased amid continued corruption, worsening 
economic conditions, and devastating acts of terrorism 
that severely hurt the tourism industry and larger econ-
omy; 
Whereas political outsider and constitutional law professor 
Kais Saied won the presidential run-off election held on 
October 13, 2019, and was sworn into office 10 days 
later in a peaceful transfer of power; 
Whereas, by 2021, protests in response to police brutality 
and worsening economic conditions, further exacerbated 
by the COVID–19 pandemic and related restrictions, oc-
curred across cities in Tunisia, to which the police re-
sponded violently; 
Whereas, in July 2021, President Saied capitalized on unrest 
to seize power by unilaterally— 
(1) dismissing Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi and 
his cabinet; 
(2) suspending Parliament for 30 days; and 
(3) asserting sweeping executive authority over pol-
icymaking and the judiciary without first consulting the 
government; 
Whereas, on July 26, 2021, Tunisian security agents entered 
the headquarters in Tunis of the independent news orga-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
03:14 Jul 26, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6300
E:\BILLS\HR613.IH
HR613
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB
•HRES 613 IH 
nization al-Jazeera, and ordered staff to vacate the prem-
ises; 
Whereas, as of November 2022, al-Jazeera’s offices remained 
closed and its journalism licenses have not been renewed; 
Whereas, on September 22, 2021, President Saied suspended 
most provisions of the 2014 Constitution and asserted 
the right to rule by decree, without judicial review or 
other checks and balances; 
Whereas, on March 30, 2022, President Saied dissolved Par-
liament; 
Whereas, by early 2022, President Saied continued to under-
mine Tunisia’s democratic institutions, including by shut-
ting the National Anti-Corruption Authority, asserting 
control over membership of the Independent High Au-
thority for Elections, and dissolving the Supreme Judicial 
Council; 
Whereas, on February 24, 2022, President Saied announced 
he intended to issue a decree restricting civil society orga-
nizations including a prohibition on foreign funding, stat-
ing ‘‘nongovernmental organizations must be prevented 
from accessing external funds . . . and we will do that’’; 
Whereas, on March 20, 2022, President Saied issued Decree 
Law 14 criminalizing the deliberate spread of ‘‘false or 
incorrect news’’ that could cause economic harm for 
which conviction is punishable by a prison sentence of 10 
years to life; 
Whereas, on June 1, 2022, President Saied unilaterally dis-
missed 57 judges, including the former president of the 
Supreme Judicial Council; 
Whereas, in July 2022, President Saied put to a referendum 
a new draft constitution, which— 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
03:14 Jul 26, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6300
E:\BILLS\HR613.IH
HR613
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB
•HRES 613 IH 
(1) consolidated executive power under the presi-
dency; 
(2) limited parliamentary authority; and 
(3) diminished judicial independence; 
Whereas the new draft constitution was approved despite his-
torically low voter turnout and heavy domestic and inter-
national criticism surrounding the lack of genuine debate 
or input throughout the drafting process; 
Whereas, on September 16, 2022, President Saied issued De-
cree Law 54 which criminalizes the use of information 
systems to publish or circulate false information that ‘‘in-
fringes on the rights of others or jeopardizes public safe-
ty or national defense or spreads terror among the popu-
lation’’, or with the aim of ‘‘defaming others, tarnishing 
their reputations, or causing them financial and moral 
harm’’; 
Whereas, as of November 2022, the government had opened 
at least 5 criminal investigations under Decree Law 54 
for conduct comprising the exercise of freedom of expres-
sion; 
Whereas, on September 15, 2022, President Saied released a 
new election law that increases his control over the elec-
toral process and weakens the role of political parties in 
Tunisia’s political system; 
Whereas, on March 9, 2023, President Saied announced 
plans to dissolve municipal councils whose election in 
2018 had symbolized a first step toward much-needed po-
litical decentralization; 
Whereas, between 2021 to 2023, Tunisia experienced— 
(1) a dramatic drop in voter participation and public 
confidence in the political process; and 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
03:14 Jul 26, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6300
E:\BILLS\HR613.IH
HR613
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB
•HRES 613 IH 
(2) an escalation in politically motivated arrests of 
political opponents, judges, lawyers, journalists, business 
leaders, and other critics; and 
Whereas President Saied’s actions have dramatically under-
mined Tunisia’s nascent democracy, co-opted and weak-
ened its democratic institutions, and have threatened to 
return the country to authoritarianism: Now, therefore, 
be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) recognizes Tunisia as the symbolic birth-
place of the historic Arab Spring movement and the 
country’s notable democratic reforms that emerged 
during the Arab Spring period; 
(2) commends the Tunisian people for their 
courage and democratic achievements made in the 
immediate years following the Arab Spring; 
(3) condemns actions taken by President Saied 
to undermine these democratic achievements and ex-
presses deep concern for the recent reversals of such 
democratic gains, including— 
(A) the erosion of judicial independence; 
(B) political repression and arrests; and 
(C) the undemocratic consolidation of 
power in the hands of the president; 
(4) urges the Government of Tunisia— 
(A) to release all political prisoners; 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
03:14 Jul 26, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00006
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\HR613.IH
HR613
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB
•HRES 613 IH 
(B) to respect the rights of the people to 
free exercise of peaceful assembly, expression, 
and the press and to hold accountable individ-
uals responsible for political repression and 
other human rights abuses since July 25, 2021; 
and 
(C) to protect the right of association and 
to ensure civil society is able to operate without 
government interference; and 
(5) calls on the Government of Tunisia to sup-
port transparent and open presidential, parliamen-
tary, and municipal election processes, including 
with regard to the presidential election scheduled for 
2024. 
Æ 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
03:14 Jul 26, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00007
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6301
E:\BILLS\HR613.IH
HR613
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB