Saadia Mosbah is a prominent Tunisian human rights activist who devoted her life to combating racism and advocating for the rights of Black Tunisians and victims of racism and racial discrimination, including Black Tunisians and Sub-Saharan migrants. Her relentless efforts focused on dismantling stereotypes and fostering equality across Tunisian society, promoting a society free from prejudice, racism and division. Saadia Mosbah has experienced racial discrimination firsthand as a Black Tunisian woman, both at her workplace and in the Tunisian society.
After the Revolution, alongside fellow activists, Saadia co-founded in 2012-2013 the association “Mnemty” (means “My dream” in Arabic), the main organization dedicated to the fight against racism and racial discrimination in Tunisia, and became its President. The goal of the association is to combat racial discrimination and hate speech in Tunisia and promote freedom from discrimination and the right to equality, through education, awareness raising and legislative activism. Mnemty seeks to eradicate racism in all its forms: institutional, cultural and social. Under Saadia’s leadership, Mnemty was built as an inclusive and non-community-based organization, welcoming all activists sharing its vision and willing to promote its objectives. Mnemty has been working collaboratively and in solidarity with other NGOs combating all forms of discrimination in Tunisian society.
As the association’s President, she recruited and trained a team of young Tunisians from different backgrounds and successfully spearheaded key initiatives, including a nationwide debate on systemic racism in 2016 and for the recognition of slavery as a crime against humanity; the passing of the landmark Anti-Racism Law n 50 (2018); the declaration by the former President of Tunisia of 23 January as the National Day for the Abolition of Slavery in 2019 which she later leveraged to organise cultural and academic events around; and speaking out against xenophobic rhetoric and violent attacks against Black Tunisians and sub-Saharan migrants.
These public positions against racial discrimination were met with a severe and coordinated smear campaign on social media against her, Mnemty, and its members. She was arrested on 6 May 2024 on false accusations of financial crimes and remains, since, in pre-trial detention without a set trial date.
