Long relegated to silence, the Tunisian bar is finding its way back to life.
Under the leadership of President Boubaker Bethabet, the legal profession once again becomes a pillar of the rule of law.
Faced with this awakening, the Kaïs Saïed regime is tense: the president has still not received the presidency, an extremely rare occurrence in the history of the Republic.
This symbolic contempt reflects the fear of a power which knows that, when the black robes rise, the regimes tremble.
Since his election on September 13, 2025, Boubaker Bethabet is still waiting to be received at the Carthage palace.
Under Bourguiba as under Ben Ali, it happened that the head of state postponed an interview, but never had such a distance taken on such a political dimension.
By refusing this audience, Kaïs Saïed demonstrates his contempt for an institution that he does not control.
He treats the bar not as a partner, but as a threat.
Elected in the first round with 57% of the votes, Boubaker Bethabet promised to restore the bar to its dignity and its historic role: to defend justice against power, and not the other way around.
From the first weeks, he set the tone: denunciation of Decree 54, defense of dismissed judges, rapprochement with the Association of Tunisian Magistrates and reaffirmation of the link with civil society.
His election acted like an earthquake in a profession numbed by years of compromise.
The bar comes out of the coma
The mandates of Brahim Bouderbala and Hatem Mziou had plunged the bar into unprecedented apathy.
Where their predecessors placed the profession at the heart of the democratic struggle, they had locked themselves into docility.
Me Bouderbala had transformed his mandate into a political springboard towards the presidency of the Assembly.
Mziou said he had “a clear conscience”, while admitting his helplessness.
The bar, once a beacon of freedom, was nothing more than a resigned administration.
This abdication had broken the morale of a tired profession.
The few lawyers who remained standing – Samir Dilou, Lazhar Akremi, Dalila Msaddek, Saïda Garrach – had become the isolated symbols of a resistance running out of steam.
Boubaker Bethabet not only promises moral renewal: he provides proof of it.
October 27: the return of courage
October 27, 2025, the date of the appeal trial for the “plot against state security”, will remain that of awakening.
Before the Court, the President refused to submit to the rules imposed by those in power.
« The Bar Association will not present any declaration of representation until the defendants physically appear “, he told the judge.
This gesture, simple but historic, marked a rupture: the bar regained its place in the political history of the country.
For months, remote trials, established under the cover of security, had emptied justice of its substance.
By refusing to endorse them, Bethabet broke the consensus of silence.
His gesture, hailed by the profession, reinstated in the public landscape a forgotten idea: the lawyer is not an auxiliary, but a conscience.
The Order finds its voice
Since that day, the bar has moved forward at the pace of its president.
File after file, the Order intervenes, denounces, condemns.
On October 23, he took up the case of Sonia Dahmani, a columnist and lawyer who had become one of the regime’s bugbears.
Sentenced to two years and two months in prison, she had served two thirds of her sentence, but the Parole Board refused to examine her file, citing a spurious reason: the judgment would not be final.
The President immediately contacted the Ministry of Justice to denounce a flagrant violation of the principle of equality before the law.
This gesture is not isolated: it marks the return of a bar which assumes its political role.
A few days later, on October 29, the Order struck again.
In a scathing press release, he denounced the suspension of the ATFD and the FTDES, two pillar organizations of civil society.
Me Bethabet points out that their closure constitutes a direct attack on public freedoms and the very spirit of the Constitution.
In the space of a week, he did what two mandates had not dared to do: give the bar back its voice and its dignity.
His positions are disturbing, but they restore the institution’s moral legitimacy.
Allies inside and outside the walls
The president’s fight finds powerful echoes showing that he is not alone.
On October 29, jurist and activist Jaouhar Ben Mbarek began a wild hunger strike at Belli prison, refusing water, food and medicine.
He denounces “an impossible trial” and a policy of slow elimination of opponents.
His gesture is extreme, but it awakens consciences: freedom cannot be begged from a power that no longer possesses it.
In the same vein, Ahmed Souab, a former magistrate who became a lawyer, refused on October 28 to appear remotely.
For him, a trial without a defendant is not a trial, but a judicial fiction.
His refusal, relayed by his son, shook up the profession and gave weight to the president’s gesture.
The actions of Me Souab and Me Bethabet respond to each other. The first fights from his cell, the second from the stand. Together, they rewrite the dignity of the dress.
October 31: the street enters the fight
This Friday, October 31, the day of Ahmed Souab’s trial, the Tunis courthouse became a rallying place.
From the morning, lawyers, activists, NGOs, journalists and diplomatic representatives gathered in front of the court to demand a fair trial and denounce the generalization of remote trials.
For the first time in a long time, the bar and civil society are speaking with one voice.
The fight of the President has left the courtrooms: it has become that of a people who refuse silence.
November 10: the resistance is organized
Boubaker Bethabet is now preparing the sequel.
On November 10, he will convene a general information assembly on fair trial and the role of the defense.
But behind this session lies a strategic decision: according to information from Business News, the President intends to institutionalize the resistance.
He will propose to lawyers to refuse any representation mandate as long as remote trials continue, or to withdraw mandates already filed.
Such a position could paralyze entire sections of the justice system.
Trials without lawyers lose their legitimacy, judgments become fragile, convictions questionable. The message is clear: the bar is taking direct action.
The regime’s headlong rush
Faced with this rise in power, the regime reacted with closure.
During Ahmed Souab’s hearing, journalists were barred from access, and only one member of his family was able to attend the session.
This closed session violates the universal principle of publicity of judicial debates, the very foundation of the law. A trial takes place in the name of the people, and under their gaze. Preventing the press and citizens from attending amounts to confiscating justice from Tunisians.
This lock reflects a headlong rush.
In the past, under Me Bouderbala and Me Mziou, power judged without opposition.
Today, he must lock down, justify, defend himself. Fear begins to change sides.
An institution standing in the face of a power that is closing
By refusing compromise and silence, Boubaker Bethabet has rehabilitated the role of the Tunisian bar: a bulwark against arbitrariness and fear.
His fight goes beyond the boundaries of the profession: he carries the voice of those who refuse to give in.
But while the president extends his hand in the name of law, the president persists in not receiving it.
This silence is no longer indifference: it is an admission.
That of a power incapable of hearing, locked in its own verticality.
However, this refusal is already a victory.
In the past, power acted without resistance; today, he must deal with a standing bar, a vigilant civil society and an awakened opinion.
Tunisia is experiencing a tipping point. The law is no longer silent.
And if those in power persist in ignoring those who defend justice, it will end up discovering that no one governs against it in the long term.
Maya Bouallégui
