Press Release
The Authorities in Tunisia Are Failing to Provide Water and Electricity, and Are Arresting Those Who Protest their Shortcomings and Failures!
(Translated)

Burj al-Ras area in Al-Mahdia Governorate is facing a severe drinking water crisis amidst harsh summer conditions. This has prompted residents to stage protests, the latest of which took place on 14/7/2026. Instead of addressing the existing problems, the local authorities arrested the protesters, most of whom were minors and youth!

Initially, those arrested were charged with "conspiracy," attempting to change the form of government, and inciting residents to attack each other, before they were released due to widespread public condemnation of their arrest!

In light of this secular absurdity that has befallen Tunisia, we in Hizb ut Tahrir / Wilayah of Tunisia state the following:

1- The water and electricity crises plaguing the Burj al-Ras area, and indeed Tunisia as a whole, are a consequence of a combination of the secular system's failures and administrative corruption. Al-Mahdia, a coastal city surrounded by the Mediterranean on three sides, faces persistent water shortages and recurring power outages.

This occurs in an era where desalination and alternative energy sources are readily available, highlighting a lack of will to find radical solutions for basic necessities of life.

2- The policy of running away from the problem, security intimidation, arresting protesting voices, and failing to confront crises with effective solutions will only exacerbate the situation and increase tension. It would have been more appropriate for the authorities to reject secularism and adhere to the rule of Islam in caring for the affairs of the people. The ruler in Islam is a guardian and servant of the Ummah, as the Prophet (saw) said: «الْإِمَامُ رَاعٍ وَهُوَ مَسْؤُولٌ عَنْ رَعِيَّتِهِ» “The imam is a guardian and he is responsible for his subjects.” He is not satisfied that electricity and water are available in his house using the Ummah’s money, while the Ummah suffers from their absence, because he is not a master to be served as secular systems have established, but rather he is a servant of the Ummah hoping for the mercy of his Lord. If there is an emergency situation, then it should apply to everyone, even to the rulers before the ruled, because it is their failure and mismanagement that brought the country to this state.

Moreover, electricity and water sources are considered public property, which should originally reach all people, either for free or at cost price, as they are the rights of the community. The Prophet (saw) said:

«النَّاسُ شُرَكَاءُ فِي ثَلَاثٍ؛ فِي الْمَاءِ وَالْكَلَأِ وَالنَّارِ» “People are partners in three things: water, pasture, and fire.”

3- We in Hizb ut Tahrir / Tunisia hold the authorities accountable and warn them of the dangers of their negligence and inability to safeguard the interests of the people. We also affirm that the salvation of the Tunisian people from their crises will not come through patchwork solutions, but rather through ending the corrupt secular system and establishing the great system of Islam, the system of care and justice, through its Khilafah Rashidah (rightly guided Caliphate) on the method of the Prophethood, which its establishment is obligatory upon all Muslims. The Prophet (saw) said:

«وَمَنْ مَاتَ وَلَيْسَ فِي عُنُقِهِ بَيْعَةٌ مَاتَ مِيتَةً جَاهِلِيَّةً» “Whoever dies without having a pledge of allegiance on his neck, dies a death of the days of ignorance.”

Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir in Wilayah Tunisia