Abdallah
Saïd
Abdallah Saïd, a doctor and president of the Enfants de la Lune association in Médenine, which helps migrant and refugee children, was arrested on 12 November 2024. The state security and money laundering charges were dropped and he was tried on a financial charge. He was sentenced to one year in prison in April 2026, raised to two years on appeal in September 2026.
- Country
- Tunisia
- Role
- Doctor / health worker
- Arrested
- 12 Nov 2024
- Status
- Pre-trial · no verdict
- Status
- Imprisoned (serving sentence)
- Arrested
- 12 Nov 2024
- Judicial status
- Convicted, not final
- Name in Arabic
- عبد الله سعيد
- Charges
- Financial offence linked to the association's funding (tried and convicted; exact charge not published)
- Money laundering (dropped at the close of the investigation)
- Formation of a criminal association (outcome not published)
- Undermining the external security of the State (dropped at the close of the investigation)
The arrest, and what followed.
Background and Work
Abdallah Saïd is a Tunisian physician with more than thirty years in public health. He is president of the Enfants de la Lune (Children of the Moon) association in Médenine, which gives medical, psychological, school and social help to migrant and refugee children and to vulnerable women, and he coordinates a collective of local associations.
The Arrest
He was arrested in Médenine on 12 November 2024, together with the association's secretary general, its treasurer and two bank employees, who were all later released. The case was first referred to the counter-terrorism judicial pole, which on 26 November 2024 found no suspicion of terrorism and sent the file back to the ordinary courts. An investigation was then opened into money laundering, embezzlement and harming the external security of the State, linked to the association's foreign funding and its aid to migrants. He alone was kept in prison.
The Charges
At the close of the investigation the charges of harming the external security of the State and money laundering were dropped, and only a financial charge was sent to trial. Rights groups describe the case as an attack on humanitarian work with migrants and refugees.
Trial and Appeal
On 3 February 2026 the Médenine first instance court postponed the case to 21 April 2026 and rejected his request for release. On 21 April 2026 it sentenced him to one year in prison, and the prosecution appealed at once. In July 2026 the appeal hearing was postponed and a new release request was rejected. On 28 September 2026 the Médenine Court of Appeal raised the sentence to two years in prison. Reports expected his release within weeks because of the time he had already served, but no report of his release had been found by early November 2026.
Context
Tunisia has seen a sharp deterioration in civic space and judicial independence since 2021. Dozens of journalists, lawyers, activists, and opposition figures have been arrested on charges related to national security, conspiracy, or financial crimes. Many of these prosecutions lack credible evidence and proceed in violation of international fair trial standards.