Tunisia lawyers condemn 'harassment' of jailed commentator

Tunisian lawyers have condemned what they called "judicial harassment" of political commentator Mourad Zeghidi, held since last year, with his defense committee telling a press conference on Wednesday that Zeghidi was being detained to "intimidate" critics of President Kais Saied. Many critics of the current president have been prosecuted and detained under Decree 54, a law Saied enacted in 2022 to prohibit "spreading false news". According to the National Syndicate of Tunisian Journalists (SNJT), the decree has been used to prosecute more than 60 journalists, lawyers and opposition figures.