Kamel Eddine Labidi was a Tunisian human rights defender and journalist well-known to the human rights community across the Arab region. Labidi, born in Tunisia on 04 June 1949, passed away on 16 January 2026 after a lengthy battle with cancer in Virginia, the United States.

Labidi worked for many different newspapers across the region, as well as human rights organisations and networks including Amnesty International, the Committee to Protect Journalists and IFEX. He was essential to the founding and success of the IFEX Tunisia Monitoring Group, composed of 21 IFEX members ,which was created to promote freedom of expression and assembly, and independence of the judiciary in Tunisia, prior to the revolution in 2011.

In 2011-2012, he led the National Authority to Reform Information and Communication (INRIC), which made important recommendations to reform the media. As President, he was disappointed that INRIC had to close due to the failure of the government to implement the proposed reforms.

Labidi then helped set up the civil society group Vigilance pour la Démocratie et l’Etat Civique which became a member of IFEX. Labidi had a hand in introducing many IFEX members in the Arab world, including GCHR, to each other and was hugely supportive of their work.