A Tunisian court has handed down a death sentence to a 56-year-old man accused of insulting President Kais Saied and attacking state security through social media posts, in what rights groups describe as an alarming escalation against free expression.
The case involves Saber Chouchane, a day labourer with limited formal education, who was arrested last year after posting critical comments about the president on Facebook. His lawyer, Oussama Bouthalja, said the ruling by a judge in Nabeul was “shocking and unprecedented,” emphasizing that his client was an ordinary citizen simply exercising his right to speak out. “The judge in the Nabeul court sentenced the man to death over Facebook posts. It is a shocking and unprecedented ruling,” Bouthalja told Reuters. He confirmed that the ruling has been appealed.
The Tunisian Ministry of Justice has not yet commented on the case. Although death sentences have occasionally been issued in Tunisia, the country has maintained an informal moratorium, with no executions carried out for more than three decades.
The ruling has sparked outrage both online and offline, with activists, opposition figures, and ordinary Tunisians expressing disbelief and anger. Social media quickly became flooded with posts condemning the verdict, with many viewing it as an attempt to intimidate critics of Saied’s increasingly authoritarian rule. Human rights advocates warned that such punishments could set a dangerous precedent, chilling public debate and silencing dissent at a time when political tensions in the country are already running high.
Chouchane’s family expressed despair over the judgment. “We can’t believe it,” said his brother, Jamal Chouchane. “We are a family suffering from poverty, and now oppression and injustice have been added to poverty.”
Since President Saied’s dramatic power grab in July 2021, when he dissolved the elected parliament and began ruling by decree, Tunisia has come under intense criticism from both domestic and international observers. Rights groups have accused him of undermining judicial independence, curbing freedoms, and using the legal system to target political opponents. Several opposition leaders, whom Saied has branded as traitors, remain behind bars facing various charges that critics argue are politically motivated.
The Tunisian League for Human Rights, which confirmed the sentence, described the ruling as a grave setback for democracy in the country once hailed as the Arab Spring’s lone success story. Analysts warn that if upheld, the case could further isolate Tunisia internationally, strain relations with Western partners, and deepen internal instability.
Observers note that while Tunisia’s constitution guarantees freedom of speech, the growing use of repressive laws against critics highlights a troubling trend of shrinking civic space. The case of Saber Chouchane, a little-known labourer thrust into the spotlight, now stands as a stark reminder of the risks faced by ordinary citizens in expressing dissent in today’s Tunisia.
