Across the MENA region, authoritarian regimes are increasingly using cybercrime and online content laws to restrict freedom of expression. In Tunisia, Decree-Law 54 has been used to jail journalists and critical voices, leading many to self-censor and creating a climate of fear. Similar legal tactics are spreading across Egypt, the Gulf, and beyond.
Aymen Zaghdoudi is a Tunisian law professor, senior counsel at Access Now, and a Democracy Matters Initiative Advisory Group member at MEDC. On May 23, MEDC’s Yasmin Omar sat down with him to discuss the rising use of cybercrime laws and surveillance to restrict online freedoms across the MENA region.
Zaghdoudi emphasized the need for coordinated legal, political, and advocacy strategies to counter opaque legislative processes and digital repression. He outlined the limits of domestic legal tools and stressed the importance of leveraging regional alliances and international mechanisms (such as UN Special Rapporteurs and the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review).
Highlighting coalitions like the MENA Alliance for Digital Rights and the MENA Coalition to Combat Surveillance, Zaghdoudi called for strengthened cross-border mobilization, rapid information sharing, and engagement with tech companies to defend digital rights. Despite resource and access challenges, he underscored the urgency of preserving online space as a critical site for free expression, civic engagement, and narrative power.