Abdallah Said

Abdallah Said, a civil society activist, is president of the association “Children of the Moon”, which works to support children with xeroderma pigmentosum (“children of the moon”) and vulnerable groups, including refugees and migrants.
On 12 November 2024, Abdallah Said was summoned by telephone together with the association’s secretary-general and treasurer; they were all questioned before being placed in police custody at the National Unit for the Investigation of Complex Crimes in El Gorjani, without being informed of the charges against them. The file was referred to the Public Prosecutor of Médenine, who considered that there was a suspicion of terrorism, and the case was referred to the Judicial Counter-Terrorism Pole on 17 November 2024; however, on 26 November 2024 the latter decided that there was no suspicion of terrorism and returned the file to the Public Prosecutor of Médenine. Nevertheless, a new judicial investigation was opened on charges of money laundering, embezzlement and undermining the external security of the state, and an order was issued committing him to prison, while the other accused women from the association were released. During his detention, he protested about his health situation, as he was not allowed to obtain his medication, and about what he considered the procedural drawing-out of the case. His retirement pension was also cut off, affecting his family’s financial situation, and the association’s premises were searched and some of its documents seized. His detention lasted more than a year and a half (562 days up to the date of the judgment). On 3 February 2026, his request for release was rejected and the case was adjourned to 21 April 2026, with him kept in detention. At that hearing, he was sentenced to one year in prison for breach of trust, on the basis of a financial report contested by the defence team; the Public Prosecution appealed the judgment, and he remained in detention after a new request for release was rejected.