French National Detained in Tunisia on Breach of State Security Charges

Security forces in the streets of Tunisia’s capital, Tunis (AFP)
Security forces in the streets of Tunisia’s capital, Tunis (AFP)
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French National Detained in Tunisia on Breach of State Security Charges

Security forces in the streets of Tunisia’s capital, Tunis (AFP)
Security forces in the streets of Tunisia’s capital, Tunis (AFP)

 

French PhD student Victor Dupont was detained in Tunisia on breach of state security charges 12 days ago, and French authorities are trying to negotiate his release, the director of his research lab, Vincent Geisser, said.
Dupont, 27, was arrested just before midday on Oct. 19 at his home in a suburb of Tunis along with three friends visiting from France, according to one of the friends, Edouard Matalon, a Paris-based librarian.
Matalon was released the same day after questioning, according to Reuters.
“This is an attack on academic freedom,” said Geisser, director of the French Institute of Research and Study on the Arab and Islamic Worlds at Aix-Marseille University.
The Tunisian authorities were not immediately available for comment. The French ministry of foreign affairs did not reply to a request for comment.
But several Tunisian lawyers linked Dupont’s arrest to the PhD he started in 2022, and which looks at the socio-economic and life trajectories of those who took part in social movements of the 2011 revolution that toppled President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali.

 



Survivors, Bodies Recovered from Capsized Red Sea Tourist Boat

25 November 2024, Egypt: Red Sea Governor Amr Hanafi (R) checks on tourists rescued from capsized tourist boat called "Sea Story" that sank off Egypt's Red Sea coast. (Red Sea Governorate/dpa)
25 November 2024, Egypt: Red Sea Governor Amr Hanafi (R) checks on tourists rescued from capsized tourist boat called "Sea Story" that sank off Egypt's Red Sea coast. (Red Sea Governorate/dpa)
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Survivors, Bodies Recovered from Capsized Red Sea Tourist Boat

25 November 2024, Egypt: Red Sea Governor Amr Hanafi (R) checks on tourists rescued from capsized tourist boat called "Sea Story" that sank off Egypt's Red Sea coast. (Red Sea Governorate/dpa)
25 November 2024, Egypt: Red Sea Governor Amr Hanafi (R) checks on tourists rescued from capsized tourist boat called "Sea Story" that sank off Egypt's Red Sea coast. (Red Sea Governorate/dpa)

Rescuers on Tuesday recovered five survivors and four bodies from a dive boat that capsized off Egypt's eastern coast a day earlier, Red Sea governor Amr Hanafi said.  

A military-led team rescued two Belgians, one Swiss national, one Finnish tourist and one Egyptian, the governor said, bringing the total number of survivors from the accident to 33.  

The "Sea Story" had been carrying 31 tourists of multiple nationalities and a 13-member crew when it was hit by a large wave near Marsa Alam in southeastern Egypt early on Monday, causing it to capsize.

The four bodies recovered on Tuesday have not yet been identified, and eight people are still missing after 28 were rescued on Monday.

A government source close to rescue operations said the five survivors were found on Tuesday morning inside the boat, which the governor said had been thrown on its side by an early morning wave but had not completely sunk.  

The group had spent at least 24 hours in the overturned vessel after authorities first received distress calls at 5:30 AM (0330 GMT) on Monday.  

"Rescue operations are ongoing today, supported by a military helicopter and a frigate in addition to multiple divers," the Red Sea governor told AFP Tuesday, declining to provide any further details about the operation.  

The four bodies recovered on Tuesday were also located inside the stricken vessel.  

The boat had embarked on a multi-day diving trip on Sunday and had been due to dock on Friday at the town of Hurghada, 200 kilometers (124 miles) north.  

The governor on Monday said it capsized "suddenly and quickly within 5-7 minutes" of the impact with the wave, leaving some passengers -- among them European, Chinese and American tourists -- unable to set out of their cabins in time.  

- Still missing -  

Rescuers from the military and a passing tourist boat pulled 28 people from the water on Monday.  

According to a source at a hospital in Marsa Alam, six tourists and three Egyptians were admitted with minor injuries and discharged on Monday.   

According to the governor's office, the boat was carrying tourists from Belgium, Britain, China, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland and the United States.  

Among the missing are two Polish tourists and one from Finland, according to both countries' foreign ministries.  

Authorities in Egypt have said the vessel was fully licensed and had passed all inspection checks. A preliminary investigation showed no technical fault.  

There were at least two similar boat accidents in the Marsa Alam area earlier this year, but no fatalities.  

The Red Sea coast is a major tourist destination in Egypt, a country of 107 million that is in the grip of a serious economic crisis.  

Nationally, the tourism sector employs two million people and generates more than 10 percent of its GDP.  

Dozens of dive boats crisscross between Red Sea coral reefs and islands off Egypt's eastern coast every day, where safety regulations are robust but unevenly enforced.