Prominent Tunisian journalist Mohamed Boughalleb taken into custody

A prominent Tunisian journalist and outspoken critic of President Kais Saied was placed in police custody Friday over "insulting others" on social media, his lawyer told AFP.

Mohamed Boughalleb, a Tunisian television figure, was summoned and interrogated by a cybercrime unit in the suburbs of the capital, Tunis, following a complaint filed by a civil servant, lawyer Hamadi Zaafrani said.

"After hours of hearing, it was decided to place him in police custody for 48 hours," he added.

The complainant, a woman working in the Tunisian Ministry of Religious Affairs, accused Boughalleb of "damaging her honour and reputation" in Facebook posts, according to local media.

"This case is but a new attempt to intimidate journalists and silence them by exploiting state apparatus," said Zied Dabbar, head of the National Union of Tunisian Journalists.

Boughalleb is known for his criticism of President Saied.

A number of Saied's opponents are behind bars as Tunisia prepares for presidential elections set to take place later this year.

Around 20 journalists are currently facing charges over what the Tunisian journalists' union said was their work.

After Saied granted himself full powers in July 2021, a number of local and international watchdogs have sounded the alarm about a decline in freedoms in Tunisia.

The North African country came to be known as the birthplace of the Arab Spring protests more than a decade ago.

On March 20, 2024, a well-known DR Congo journalist was released from prison after spending six months behind bars.

Stanis Bujakera, 33, had been sentenced the previous day to six months in prison for allegedly incriminating in an article the country's military intelligence in the murder of an opposition politician, Cherubin Okende. He was detained in September and held in pre-trial custody.

The unsigned story was published in the Jeune Afrique magazine and based on an alleged confidential memo from a separate intelligence agency. Congolese authorities have said the memo is a fake.