TUNIS, Tunisia: The former president of a sub-Saharan African student association, who was arrested in Tunisia last month, has been released, the student body announced on Friday.
Christian Kwongang, a Cameroonian who led the Association of African Students and Interns in Tunisia (AESAT) until February 2023, has been found and is in good health, the organization said in a statement.
A Tunisian student himself, Kwongang has previously spoken out about the spate of racist attacks and arbitrary arrests in the North African country in the past year.
He was arrested on March 19 while renewing his residency status without any charges or formal trial, the group said.
Kwongang was released on March 29, but the association will wait to see if he will undergo further police surveillance before announcing his release, the association’s current president, Yaya Traore told media.
Traore said the day before his release, Kwongang was transferred from a detention center in Wardiya, on the southern outskirts of the Tunisian capital, to a hotel where he remained under “police surveillance”.
The interior ministry said Kwongang was “being held in a specialized facility in preparation for deportation” after authorities accused him of “committing acts that violate Tunisian law and undermine public order.”
The ministry announced in a statement that he is being supported by the Tunisian Red Crescent Society pending deportation to Cameroon.
The Students’ Union said Kwongang had been questioned at length about his activities after president Kais Saied gave a controversial speech last year in which he denounced a horde of illegal immigrants as a demographic threat.
His speech came as anti-immigrant violence escalated across Tunisia, a key transit point for African migrants hoping to reach Europe.
