Tunis, Tunisia — A Tunisian decide has handed down a six-month jail sentence to journalist and political commentator Mohamed Boughalleb, marking a big escalation within the authorities’s crackdown on media freedom.
Boughalleb, who’s 60, has been behind bars since final month following his arrest prompted by accusations of insulting a civil servant.
The costs stemmed from a criticism by a member of the Tunisian Ministry of Religious Affairs, who was focused in Boughalleb’s Facebook posts.
The posts criticized the official’s overseas journeys with the minister, labeling them as a misuse of public funds and a “waste of public funds.” Boughalleb was subsequently charged below Tunisia’s defamation legal guidelines inside the penal and telecommunications codes.
The conviction, denounced by Boughalleb’s attorneys as an “attack on freedom of expression,” comes at a politically charged second as President Kais Saied gears up for a possible second time period.
The case has highlighted the broader sample of actions towards journalists, with Ziad Dabbar, president of the National Union of Tunisian Journalists, noting that round 20 journalists are at present dealing with related costs.
Dabbar condemned the sentence as one other try and silence journalists and hinder their means to report freely.
This incident is a part of a rising pattern of restricted civil liberties in Tunisia, the place journalists, activists, and political opponents face growing strain and authorized actions.
More than 20 activists and politicians have been imprisoned for over a 12 months on costs associated to plotting towards state safety, in what defenders declare are politicized circumstances.
These developments observe President Saied’s controversial strikes since taking workplace, together with suspending the parliament, rewriting the structure to consolidate his energy, and lowering the independence of the judiciary.
This shift has led to intensified prosecutions of critics and opponents, elevating critical issues concerning the state of democracy and freedom of expression in Tunisia
https://www.africanexponent.com/tunisian-journalist-sentenced-to-six-months-in-prison-amidst-government-crackdown-on-media/
