A political prisoner jailed in Tunisia has begun to attract the attention of U.S. lawmakers of both parties.

Lawmakers have focused on the seizure and incarceration in February of Olfa Hamdi — attorney, former CEO of Tunisair, and former presidential candidate — and the separate arrests of three other dissidents.

As a result, the authoritarian regime of Tunisian President Kais Saied is getting international attention — not only for its heavy-handed treatment of opponents but also for Saied's increasingly close ties to fellow strongmen such as Russia's Vladimir Putin and China's Xi Jinping.

In 2023, Hamdi she would challenge Saied in the 2024 presidential election. This was at a time when the president was annulling portions of the Tunisian Constitution as well as ordering arrests of journalists, jurists, and activists who criticized him.

"And this is where the Arab Spring started," Hamdi told Newsmax that year, recalling Dec. 17, 2010, when a 26-year-old fruit peddler in the Tunisian town of Sidi Bouzid named Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire after being charged with selling goods without a license.

Bouazizi's self-immolation launched the protests that toppled the regime of Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and ignited similar uprisings in Libya, Yemen, Sudan, and Egypt.

"Now we're headed for the Arab Winter," she said.

Hamdi eventually abandoned her candidacy before the 2024 elections and settled in the United States (she has dual citizenship in the U.S. and Tunisia).

"Had I stayed and continued my campaign, I was told by sources within the military I would have been jailed and, very likely, sexually assaulted," Hamdi told Newsmax.

On Feb. 15, 2026, Hamdi stunned many supporters by doing just what she had long said was out of the question and flew to Tunisia's capital, Tunis.

She was promptly arrested and brought to police headquarters for questioning. Since then, Hamdi has been jailed and, by several accounts, held incommunicado.

Sources close to the former candidate told Newsmax she believed her U.S. citizenship would give her immunity from arrest if she returned to Tunisia. But Hamdi remained a Tunisian citizen as well and was thus vulnerable to arrest by the Saied government.

The Rwandan government made a similar argument for its 2020 arrest and subsequent trial of Hotel Rwanda hero — and U.S. resident and green card holder — Paul Rusesabagina on charges of terrorism.

"It is outrageous that the dictator Saied has arrested Tunisian American Olfa Hamdi solely for the crime of criticizing him and that further illustrates Saied's hatred of the United States," Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., told Newsmax last week.

Wilson, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has joined Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., to co-sponsor legislation calling for sanctions on Tunisia until democracy is restored.

But Hamdi is not alone among the persecuted in Tunisia. Before her arrest, human rights activist Chaima Issa became the first woman jailed as a political prisoner by Saied. 

In addition, Rached Ghannouchi, leader of the Ennahda Party, which ran the Tunisian government before Saied's initial win in 2019, was imprisoned in April 2023. 

Another outspoken Saied critic, academic Jawhar Ben Mbarek, was imprisoned in 2023 and charged with trying to overthrow the regime. 

Also weighing in on the arrest of the three dissidents is House Foreign Affairs Committee member Chris Smith, R-N.J. 

"I am concerned by the reports of detention of many opposition figures in Tunisia, including Rached Ghannouchi, Jawhar Ben Mbarek, Chaima Issa, and Olfa Hamdi," Smith said. "There is serious reason to question the protection of civil liberties and the independence of the judiciary under the government of Kais Saied."

Smith added that the U.S. "has long valued its partnership with Tunisia and supports the aspirations of the Tunisian people for accountable governance, economic opportunity, and respect for fundamental freedoms.

"It is in that spirit that I urge Tunisian authorities to ensure full transparency regarding the legal basis for these detentions, to guarantee due process and fair trial rights, to immediately release those who have been held for political reasons or for practicing their fundamental rights; and to permit access to legal counsel and family members for those who remain detained." 

Outside of Congress, the increasing attention on the Hamdi affair has fueled calls for President Donald Trump to intervene behind the scenes on her behalf.

"Olfa should be freed and returned to the U.S.," said Dan Runde, senior adviser to the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "She is an American citizen. President Trump has used quiet diplomacy effectively to free prisoners who are unjustly imprisoned. I hope he will direct his administration to do that in her case."

John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.