A 56-year-old Tunisian man, Saber Ben Chouchane, has been released from prison after receiving a presidential pardon.
His release on Tuesday, October 5, followed intense criticism of his death sentence, which had been handed down for several Facebook posts that criticized President Kais Saied and government officials.
Ben Chouchane was arrested in January 2024 for a series of online posts that condemned the president’s leadership, accused the judiciary of corruption, and called on Tunisians to protest peacefully.
A court in Nabeul, east of the capital Tunis, later found him guilty of insulting the president and the judiciary, spreading false information, and inciting unrest.
Last week, the court sentenced him to death, a punishment that drew sharp condemnation from rights organizations and foreign observers. His lawyer, Oussama Bouthelja, said the verdict shocked him, describing it as “an excessive and disproportionate use of the law against peaceful expression.”
Human rights groups said the case showed how far Tunisia’s government has moved away from democratic principles since 2021, when President Saied dissolved parliament and began ruling by decree.
Since then, dozens of critics, lawyers, and journalists have faced prosecution under Decree-Law 54, a 2022 regulation that criminalizes the spread of what the authorities call false news.
The Amnesty International regional office described Ben Chouchane’s sentence as a grave attack on basic freedoms. It said his posts contained criticism and calls for reform but no threat or violence.
The organization also urged Tunisian authorities to overturn convictions based on peaceful speech and to abolish the death penalty, which remains in the country’s law though executions have not been carried out for years.
Following his sentencing, public pressure mounted. Local and international groups issued statements condemning the verdict, and several Tunisian lawyers’ associations called it “a dark day for justice.”
However, on October 7, President Saied issued a pardon, and Ben Chouchane was released overnight. His lawyer confirmed that he returned home to his family the following morning.
Bouthelja said the pardon came after his client withdrew an appeal, a move that allowed the president to grant clemency under Tunisian law. While the release brought relief to his family and supporters, activists said the case remains a warning about the shrinking space for free speech in the country.
Since Saied’s power consolidation, Tunisia has seen a series of arrests targeting online critics and opposition figures. Legal scholars and civic groups say the use of criminal law against dissenters has become a defining feature of the country’s politics.
