Tunisian security forces raided the bar association in Tunis and apprehended lawyer and political commentator Sonia Dahmani following her televised remarks about the country’s situation, according to her legal representatives.
The arrest, which occurred late Saturday and was broadcasted live by France 24, led to the channel’s broadcast being cut off and its crew facing assault.
Dalila Msaddek, one of Dahmani’s attorneys, denounced the incident on Facebook, describing it as a “police attack” on the bar association premises, with lawyers being assaulted and Dahmani taken away to an undisclosed location.
Another member of Dahmani’s legal team, Islam Hamza, confirmed her arrest to AFP.
Tunisian media reported that Dahmani is being investigated under the controversial Decree 54, which prohibits “spreading false news” online or in the media and “incitement to hate speech.”
Critics, including journalists and opposition figures, argue that the law has been wielded to suppress dissenting voices.
Msaddek mentioned that Dahmani was called to court on Friday to clarify her statements but declined to appear.
Subsequently, a court issued a warrant instructing law enforcement to bring Dahmani before the investigating judge. Dahmani, speaking to journalists before her arrest, stated that she refused to attend “without knowing the reasons for this summons”.
Her comments came during a program on the Carthage Plus TV channel on Tuesday, where she responded to another pundit’s assertion about migrants from sub-Saharan African countries seeking to settle in Tunisia.
“What extraordinary country are we talking about?” she asked sarcastically, sparking outrage among some Tunisian social media users.
France 24, whose team was present at the bar association during the arrest to cover an event in support of Dahmani, stated that police officers compelled the crew to cease live broadcasting.
The police forcefully removed the camera from its tripod and detained cameraman Hamdi Tlili, who was subsequently released after approximately 10 minutes, the network reported.
It denounced what it described as a “violent intervention by security forces that hindered journalists from fulfilling their professional duties while they were reporting on a lawyers’ demonstration for justice and in solidarity with freedom of expression.”
Signed by President Kais Saied in September 2022, Decree 54 stipulates up to five years in prison for utilizing communication networks to “produce, disseminate, or spread… false news” or to “defame other
s, damage their reputation, or harm them financially or morally.”
Since its enactment, over 60 journalists, lawyers, and opposition figures have faced prosecution under this decree, as reported by the National Union of Tunisian Journalists.
Tunisia serves as a significant departure point for thousands of migrants embarking on perilous Mediterranean Sea crossings annually in pursuit of a better life in Europe.
However, the situation for sub-Saharan African migrants in Tunisia has deteriorated, notably following a speech by Saied last year, in which he characterized “hordes of illegal migrants” as a demographic threat.
YOU MAY ALSO READ: 28 Dead, four missing as floods, landslides strike Indonesia’s West Sumatra Province