Tunisia anti-fake news law criminalises free speech: Legal group

The International Commission of Jurists says that President Saied is shutting down space for free speech online. Tunis, Tunisia – A leading human rights group has slammed the use of a Tunisian law criminalising the spreading of “fake news” to stifle free speech in the country. Decree 54, issued by President Kais Saied in September 2022, criminalises using electronic equipment to share false information, part of what his supporters have viewed as an important push against attempts to deceive the public. “The adoption of a law that provides for 10 years imprisonment and a heavy fine for anyone who would criticise a state official, a law that international and Tunisian human rights organisations described as “draconian”, can only be a repressive act in itself,” Fida Hammami, a legal adviser for the ICJ whose report, Tunisia: Silencing Free Voices, was published on Tuesday. “As a result, the Tunisian authorities are currently weaponising the prosecution office, as was the case under the pre-2011 dictatorship, to initiate and continue politicised criminal proceedings against judges, lawyers, critics, members of political opposition and individuals exercising their fundamental rights, even when investigations and evidence establish the charges to be unfounded,” Hammami said.