Mohamed
Iqbal Khaled
Mohamed Iqbal Khaled, former mayor of Sousse in Tunisia, was detained in May 2024 in the Terre d'Asile Tunisie case over the municipality's partnership with the refugee support group. On 5 January 2026 a Tunis court gave him a two-year suspended sentence and he was released that night.
- Country
- Tunisia
- Role
- Humanitarian worker
- Arrested
- 10 May 2024
- Status
- Pre-trial · no verdict
- Status
- At liberty
- Arrested
- 10 May 2024
- Judicial status
- Convicted, not final
- Name in Arabic
- محمد إقبال خالد
- Charges
- Forming a criminal association to help foreigners enter and stay in Tunisia
- Abuse of office
- Obtaining an undue advantage
- Money laundering (investigation stage)
The arrest, and what followed.
Background and Work
Mohamed Iqbal Khaled is the former mayor (president of the municipality) of Sousse, a coastal city in eastern Tunisia. Municipal councils in Tunisia manage local services and may enter partnerships with civil society and international organisations, including on support for vulnerable people.
Under his leadership, the Sousse council approved in late 2022 a partnership with Terre d'Asile Tunisie, an organisation that supports migrants, asylum seekers and refugees. The agreement, signed in 2023, allowed the organisation to open a local office to guide migrants and refugees.
The Arrest
On 10 May 2024, Mohamed Iqbal Khaled was summoned and placed in detention on the prosecutor's order, together with his deputy, Imen Ouardani. The case against him centred on the municipality's partnership with Terre d'Asile Tunisie. Authorities treated this administrative act as a criminal offence.
At the investigation stage he faced charges including forming a criminal association to help foreigners enter and stay in Tunisia, abuse of office, obtaining an undue advantage, and money laundering. Tunisia has increasingly criminalised cooperation with civil society organisations working on migration, asylum and human rights, and municipal officials have become vulnerable to prosecution for decisions made in the course of their official duties.
Detention and Trial
He was held in pre-trial detention for about twenty months. At the first trial hearing, on 15 December 2025 before the Tunis Court of First Instance, requests for release were rejected and the case was adjourned to 5 January 2026. On that date the court's criminal chamber for financial corruption sentenced him and four other detained defendants to two years in prison, suspended. He was released that night. No appeal ruling has been reported.
Information about his access to legal counsel and his detention conditions has not been made public.
Context
His case is part of a broader wave of arrests targeting municipal officials, civil servants, and civil society actors in Tunisia. Since 2021, authorities have increasingly criminalised cooperation with international organisations and non-governmental actors, particularly in areas related to migration, asylum, and human rights advocacy.
Signing administrative agreements, acts that fall within the scope of official municipal duties, has become grounds for arrest and detention. The legal ambiguity surrounding these charges, combined with prolonged pre-trial detention, creates an environment of fear and self-censorship among local officials and civil society partners.