New York — Tunisian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release journalists Sonia Dahmani, Borhen Bssais, and Mourad Zghidi, drop all charges against them, and stop preventing reporters from doing their jobs, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday.
Between May 11 and 13, Tunisian police arrested and released two additional journalists amid a new wave of arrests targeting several civil society figures, political activists, and the media.
"Tunisian police's arrest of five journalists in one week is a clear indication of how President Kais Saied's government is determined to undermine press freedom and independent journalism," said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna. "Tunisian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release journalists Sonia Dahmani, Borhen Bssais, and Mourad Zghidi, drop all charges against them, and cease harassing reporters doing their job."
On Saturday, May 11, masked police officers raided the bar association headquarters in the capital, Tunis, and arrested Dahmani, a lawyer and political affairs commentator for local independent radio station IFM and television channel Carthage Plus, according to news reports and a local journalist following the case, who spoke with CPJ on the condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisal.
A court on Monday transferred Dahmani to prison on charges of spreading false news that undermines public safety and inciting hate speech. Dahmani's arrest comes after she did not respond to a May 10 summons for questioning regarding her May 8 comments on Carthage Plus, where she criticized Tunisia's living conditions and discussed immigration issues.
Police stopped French broadcaster France 24's live coverage of the raid and Dahmani's arrest by forcibly removing the camera from the tripod and arresting their camera operator, Hamdi Tlili, then breaking his camera, according to a report by France 24 and the local journalist who spoke with CPJ. Tlili was released later that day; he is not currently facing charges but can be summoned for questioning.
Separately, on May 11, in Tunis, police arrested Bssais and Zghidi, both IFM radio journalists who present a morning show, "L'emmission Impossible," where they provide political commentary on current political affairs, according to a report by Reuters news agency and the local journalist. On Wednesday, a Tunis court ordered the journalists' detention on charges of "publishing news that includes personal data and false news aimed at defamation" until their trial, which is expected at the end of the month.
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The journalists' lawyers told France 24 that Zghidi's arrest stems from his social media posts in solidarity with the imprisoned journalist Mohamed Boughaleb, and Bssais' arrest was in connection to his television and radio commentary critical of President Saied.
Police arrested Boughaleb, a reporter with Carthage Plus and local independent radio station Cap FM, in Tunis, over social media posts on March 22; on April 17, a Tunis court sentenced him to six months in prison on defamation charges.
In another incident on Monday, police arrested freelance photojournalist Yassin Mahjoub, who was covering the arrest of lawyer Mehdi Zargouba during a second police raid of the bar association headquarters. Police deleted all of Mahjoub's pictures and released him without charge the same day.
On Tuesday, the European Union issued a statement expressing concern over the recent wave of arrests of civil society figures and journalists in Tunisia.
CPJ's email to the Tunisian Ministry of Interior did not receive a response.
