A Tunisian military court on Friday sentenced a television journalist to four months in prison for “insulting” the head of state, after his virulent criticism of some of his decisions, his lawyer told AFP.
Amer Ayad, the presenter of the Zitouna TV channel, remains free pending a decision on the appeal he filed with the Court of Appeal, added Mr. Samir Ben Amor.
He has been prosecuted since October 2021 by the Tunis military court after the broadcast of a program in which he attacked President Kais Saied.
On the air, he criticized the appointment of Najla Bouden, the first woman to head the government in Tunisia. “She will only be a servant of the Sultan (Kais Saied, Editor’s note) and an executor of his orders”, he said, considering that the president, a “populist”, had failed to find a man for him. post.
He was arrested last October and then released two months later in connection with this case.
Among the guests on this show was Abdellatif Al-Aloui, a member of the Islamo-conservative Al-Karama formation, an ally of the Islamist-inspired party Ennahdha.
Prosecuted by military justice in the same case, he was sentenced to three months in prison and also appealed this decision, according to Mr. Ben Amor.
Local and international NGOs have denounced the legal proceedings initiated against civilians by military tribunals, saying that they have intensified since the July 25 coup by President Saied who assumed full powers.
After suspending Parliament at the end of July and dismissing the government, Mr. Saied dissolved the Superior Council of the Judiciary (CSM) in February, a measure described as a new authoritarian drift by his detractors and which raised concerns for the independence of justice.
