Tunisia: Jailed for ‘Defamation’ 1 of 3 https://www.hrw.org/node/301353/printable/print MARCH 21, 2017 Tunisia: Jailed for ‘Defamation’ Police Union Leader Criticized Officials Published in (Tunis) -- A police union leader jailed since July 13, 2016 has been sentenced to two years and eight months in prison for defaming government officials. A Tunis court sentenced Walid Zarrouk, a former prisons officer and member of the Union for a Republican Police, on November 23, to one year in prison for a television interview in which he accused Tunisian authorities of bringing trumped up charges against those who criticize them. The same day, another chamber of the same court sentenced Zarrouk to eight months for his quote in a daily A general view of the Assembly of the Representatives of the People in Tunis, Tunisia, May 2016. newspaper criticizing the interior © 2016 Zoubeir Souissi/Reuters minister. And on February 7, 2017, a Tunis court sentenced him to one year in prison for Facebook posts that criticized an investigative judge and a judiciary spokesperson. No one is safe from prosecution under Tunisia’s overly broad laws criminalizing free speech. Six years after Tunisians ended Zine Abadin Ben Ali’s authoritarian rule, prosecutors and courts still subject Tunisians to trials for exercising their right to freedom of speech. “No one is safe from prosecution under Tunisia’s overly broad laws criminalizing free speech,” said Amna Guellali, Tunisia director at Human Rights Watch. “Six years after Tunisians ended Zine Abadin Ben Ali’s authoritarian rule, prosecutors and courts still subject Tunisians to trials for exercising their right to freedom of speech.” 1/22/2025, 1:23 PM