Tunisia detains French PhD student who was researching activists connected to 2011 revolution

French PhD student Victor Dupont has been detained in Tunisia since October 19, reportedly by order of a military judge, his academic supervisor Vincent Geisser told AFP. Dupont, 27, a doctoral student at France's Aix-Marseille University, had been in Tunisia conducting research on the career paths of activists involved in Tunisia’s 2011 revolution, which led to the fall of dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

According to Geisser, Dupont’s research was purely sociological, without any political or security implications. Geisser, who called the military involvement “exceptional,” urged Tunisian authorities to release his student, asserting that this academic project poses no threat. French diplomatic services and Dupont’s family, now in Tunisia, are closely monitoring the case.

Tunisia’s President Kais Saied was recently re-elected after launching a power grab in 2021.

Rights groups claim he will tighten restrictions on opposition and civil society, throttling the first democracy to emerge from the 2011 Arab Spring.