TUNIS: A Tunisian man sentenced to death over Facebook posts deemed offensive to President Kais Saied has been granted a presidential pardon, his lawyer said Tuesday.
Saber Ben Chouchane, 51, had been sentenced on multiple charges including “spreading false news,” defense lawyer Oussama Bouthelja said.
Bouthelja said he had filed an appeal on Friday but was later informed Ben Chouchane withdrew it, allowing the presidential pardon to be granted.
The lawyer also said he learned of his client’s release overnight after Ben Chouchane’s family called him and said he was at home.
Ben Chouchane was prosecuted in January 2024 and had been detained since. The verdict was delivered Wednesday by a court in Nabeul, east of Tunis.
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Ben Chouchane was prosecuted in January 2024 and had been detained since. The verdict was delivered Wednesday by a court in Nabeul, east of Tunis.
It remained unclear which of Ben Chouchane’s Facebook posts led to the prosecution.
Ben Chouchane had been found guilty of “insulting the president, the minister of justice, and the judiciary,” and some of his posts were also deemed to be incitement.
Bouthelja said he had been “shocked, stunned, astonished” by the verdict, adding: “I didn’t believe it at first.”
Under Tunisian law, attempts to overthrow the state or incite armed violence are punishable by death.
Courts continue to issue death sentences, though the country has not carried out executions since 1991.
Saied was elected in 2019 after Tunisia emerged as the only democracy to come out of the Arab Spring.
In 2021, he staged a sweeping power grab, and human rights groups have since warned of a rollback on freedoms.
Decree 54, the law criminalizing “spreading false news,” was enacted by Saied in September 2022.
It has been criticized by rights groups for stifling free speech.
Dozens of Saied’s critics have been prosecuted under Decree 54 and are currently behind bars.
