Journalists hold a banner reading “Freedom for Mourad Zeghidi” during a demonstration in front of the SNJT headquarters in Tunis [Getty]
A Tunisian court on Tuesday rejected the provisional release of two prominent journalists jailed on financial charges, with media rights group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) decrying “judicial harassment” against them.
Since President Kais Saied staged a sweeping power grab in 2021 – in what critics have called a coup – rights groups have denounced a regression in freedoms in the country. Dozens of Saied’s critics are currently behind bars.
The journalists, Mourad Zeghidi and Borhen Bsaies, were sentenced in January to three and a half years in prison for money laundering and tax evasion.
They were in court for the hearing in their appeal trial, which began this month.
Their lawyers had requested the journalists’ provisional release pending the verdict, and a postponement to better coordinate their defence.
The court rejected the request for their release but agreed to pause the trial until May 12.
“We are tired. This needs to end,” Zeghidi’s daughter Ines told AFP earlier Tuesday.
The men were detained in May 2024 for statements considered critical of Saied’s government, made on radio, television programmes and social media.
They were due to be released in January 2025 but remained in custody on the new charges.
“We are calling for an end to judicial harassment. A journalist cannot be prosecuted for his journalistic work,” RSF North Africa director Oussama Bouagila told AFP.
Supporters had gathered outside the courthouse, while diplomats from Belgium, the United Kingdom and the United Nations attended the hearing.
