TUNIS: A Tunisian court has sentenced a lawmaker to eight months in prison for criticizing President Kais Saied following recent floods, local media reported.
Ahmed Saidani was taken into custody earlier this month after posting on social media about Saied’s visits to areas affected by floods, calling him the “supreme commander of sanitation and stormwater drainage.”
Saidani’s lawyer, Houssem Eddine Ben Attia, had told AFP his client was being prosecuted under a telecommunications law against “harming others via social media,” which carries up to two years in prison.
Rights groups have warned of a rollback on freedoms in Tunisia since Saied staged a sweeping power grab in 2021.
Dozens of his critics are being prosecuted or in prison, including under a law criminalizing “false news.”
