The Summer Chamber of the Court of Appeal of Tunis has decided to delay until September 10 the examination of the case brought against attorney Sonia Dahmani while refusing to release her and remarking her absence at today’s hearing amid disagreements between Dahmani’s defence team and the administration of Manouba Civil Prison regarding the reasons for her absence.
According to the same source, the chamber of the Tunis Court of Appeal informed Dahmani’s lawyer that it had obtained a letter from the prison administration indicating that Sonia Dahmani declined to appear before the chamber due to issues related to the applicable administrative provisions concerning the prisoner’s clothing. This claim was rejected by the defence team and a representative of the Council of the National Authority of Lawyers of Tunisia, who asserted that their client was fully prepared to appear in court.
After a short break, the chamber decided to postpone the examination of the case until September 10 and to reserve the next session to hearing the lawyers’ arguments, while still refusing to release the detainee.
As a reminder, Dahmani was initially convicted to one year in prison while awaiting her trial, following a media statement she made concerning the issue of African immigrants in Tunisia.