‘Down with dictatorship’: Tunisians rally against gov’t crackdown on media
Al Jazeera
Demonstration comes after two Tunisian commentators critical of President Saeid were sentenced to prison.
Several hundred Tunisians have marched through the capital, Tunis, chanting “down with the dictatorship” as they protested a spate of arrests under a presidential decree critics say is being used to stifle dissent.
Since Tunisia’s 2011 revolution, the country has been considered among the more open media environments in the Arab world. But politicians, journalists and unions say that freedom of the press has faced a serious threat under the rule of President Kais Saied who came to power following free elections in 2019.
Two Tunisian media figures received one-year jail sentences in recent days after making comments the authorities deemed critical, in the latest prosecutions under Decree 54 issued by Saied in 2022 banning the “spreading of false news”.
“Down with the decree,” the demonstrators shouted as they marched through Tunis on Friday.
“Dictator Kais, it’s your turn now,” they added, in allusion to the Arab Spring uprising, which toppled longtime leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in 2011.
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