Press Release
The Committee for Justice (CFJ) has monitored the detention of French doctoral student Victor Dupont, aged 27, by Tunisian authorities. Dupont was working on a doctoral thesis examining the social and economic conditions and life trajectories of individuals involved in social movements connected to the 2011 Tunisian revolution, which led to the removal of former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
According to CFJ, Tunisian authorities arrested Dupont late on the night of October 19, 2024, at his home in a suburb of the capital, Tunis, where he was hosting three French friends. Tunisian authorities interrogated Dupont and his friends, releasing them all that same night, except for Dupont, who remains detained on charges of “endangering national security.”
CFJ emphasizes that Dupont’s detention appears linked to his academic research, a development raising serious concerns about academic freedoms and the liberty of research in the country.
CFJ further condemns Dupont’s continued detention, calling on Tunisian authorities for his immediate release, while warning that such incidents could erode academic freedom and create an atmosphere of fear and censorship among scholars and researchers.
