A Tunis court of first instance on May 30 sentenced lawyer and journalist Sonia Dahmani to two years in prison for criticising prison conditions, her lawyer Sami Ben Ghazi told AFP. The verdict is the latest in a string of prosecutions against one of the most vocal critics of President Kais Saied.
Lawyer Ben Ghazi said he had appealed the ruling. The case originated from a complaint by the Tunisian Prison Administration over a 2023 radio interview in which Dahmani criticised prison conditions.
Dahmani, 60, is currently facing prosecution in five separate cases, all related to media statements and based on Decree 54 — a “disinformation” law enacted by President Saied in 2022. Human rights organisations denounce the decree as a tool of political repression.
This is not the first time Dahmani has been sentenced for criticising the prison system. In May 2024, she was sentenced to 18 months in prison after a sarcastic television remark about why migrants wanted to settle in Tunisia amid a severe economic crisis. In April 2025, an appeals court added another 18 months for criticising racial segregation in cemeteries and buses reserved for black people in some parts of Tunisia.
In May 2024, Dahmani was arrested by masked police at the headquarters of the Bar Association, in an incident colleagues described as “a brutal and illegal campaign.” After more than 18 months of detention, she was released conditionally in November 2024.
Human rights groups have raised the alarm over a sharp rise in repression since President Saied seized power in a July 2021 coup. Lawyers, journalists and activists are increasingly targeted under Decree 54 or anti-terror charges. The crackdown coincides with a hostile atmosphere toward sub-Saharan African migrants, after Saied’s 2023 remarks accusing the group of seeking to change Tunisia’s demographic composition, which triggered a wave of violence.
