A Tunisian court has handed down a death sentence to a 51-year-old man for Facebook posts deemed insulting to President Kais Saied and threatening to state security, marking an unprecedented escalation in Tunisia’s crackdown on online dissent.
According to his lawyer, Saber Chouchen was convicted Wednesday on charges of attempting to overthrow the state, insulting the president, and spreading false information online. Judges ruled that Chouchen’s posts incited violence and chaos, violating both Tunisia’s penal code and the controversial 2022 cybercrime law, Decree 54.
The verdict represents the first known death sentence in Tunisia over social media activity. While capital punishment remains legal, no executions have occurred since 1991.
Chouchen’s lawyer, Oussama Bouthelja, said his client had been in pretrial detention since January 2024. He described Chouchen as a father of three, a day laborer with a permanent disability, and someone of limited education and influence.
“Most of the content he shared was copied from other pages and had little or no engagement,” Bouthelja wrote on Facebook. “He only wanted to draw attention to his difficult living conditions—not to incite unrest.”
The ruling has drawn condemnation from human rights advocates, who warn that applying the death penalty for online expression sets a dangerous precedent.
Decree 54, passed in 2022, criminalizes the creation or dissemination of “false news” that could harm public safety or national defense. Since its adoption, the law has been widely criticized as a tool for silencing journalists and political opponents.
Tunisia — once celebrated as the birthplace of the Arab Spring and a rare democratic success story in the region — has seen political freedoms erode sharply since Saied seized sweeping powers in 2021, suspending parliament and ruling by decree.
Today, many of Saied’s most outspoken critics are either imprisoned or living in exile, as Tunisia’s government faces mounting accusations of authoritarianism and repression.
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