During a radio broadcast, Zied El Heni mockingly commented on an article of the criminal code relating to the crime of insulting the head of state, in this case, President Kaïs Saïed.
Tunisian journalist Zied El Heni, renowned for his radio columns and arrested on Tuesday, June 20 for having criticized an article of the penal code on cases of contempt of the Head of State, announced, Thursday morning, his release. When he left the court, Mr. Heni, 59, told the media that he “met this morning with the Deputy Prosecutor General, who decided to let [him] go free”. But “investigations are continuing,” he said.
He had been arrested on Tuesday evening, a few hours after having commented in a mocking tone on an article of the penal code relating to the crime of insulting the head of state, in this case, President Kaïs Saïed, in a morning radio program private MFI. The article in question provides for a penalty of up to three years’ imprisonment for anyone who “is guilty of insulting the Head of State”.
In this regard, the journalist underlined that it was only a question of “a discussion around article 67” on contempt of the president. “I didn’t harm anyone,” he said.
Recalling having been imprisoned under the dictatorship of Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali and having also had legal troubles with the Islamo-conservative movement Ennahda in 2013, when the latter dominated Parliament and government coalitions, he added: ” If they think they can silence me, they are wrong.”
The National Union of Tunisian Journalists (SNJT) had called on its members to gather outside the court on Thursday to demand the release of Mr. El Heni, calling his arrest a “flagrant violation of the law”. In May, Tunisian journalists had demonstrated to denounce the “repressive” policy of power, which according to them instrumentalizes justice to intimidate and submit the media. According to the SNJT, around twenty journalists are being prosecuted for their work.
Local and international NGOs denounce a decline in freedoms in Tunisia since President Saïed assumed full powers on July 25, 2021.
