Tunisian journalist detained after criticising judiciary, lawyer says

TUNIS, April 24 – Prominent Tunisian reporter Zied Heni was detained on Friday after writing an article criticising the judiciary, according to his lawyer, a move the journalists’ union said was part of a broader crackdown on free speech.

The Tunisian public prosecutor ordered the arrest, lawyer Nafaa Laribi told Reuters. There was no immediate statement from the prosecutor’s office or details of any charge.

Rights groups warn of growing attempts to stifle remaining independent voices since President Kais Saied dissolved the elected parliament in 2021 and began ruling by decree.

In 2022, President Kais Saied also dissolved the Supreme Judicial Council and dismissed dozens of judges, a move the opposition said undermined judicial independence and turned it into a body receiving direct instructions.

Saied denies the accusations, saying he fought corruption in the judiciary and that the courts are now independent.

The head of Tunisian journalists’ union, Zied Dabbar, said Heni’s detention was “arbitrary and … another step aimed at intimidating journalists”.

Free speech initially flourished following the 2011 uprising that toppled autocrat Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and led to the “Arab Spring”.

But critics say Saied’s accumulation of power in 2021 and decrees he has issued since then have dismantled democratic safeguards and enabled the authorities to pursue many journalists.

The leaders of Tunisia’s main opposition parties have been jailed in the last three years, along with dozens of politicians, journalists, activists and businessmen, on charges of conspiring against state security, money laundering and corruption.

Saied says he will not be a dictator and that freedoms are guaranteed in Tunisia, but that no one is above the law, regardless of their name or position. REUTERS