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Tunisian authorities prohibit reporting on the legal process for conspiracy opened against 21 opponents

Tunisian authorities prohibit reporting on the legal process for conspiracy opened against 21 opponents

June 18 (EUROPA PRESS) –

A Tunisian judge has prohibited the country’s media from reporting on the legal proceedings against 21 activists accused of “conspiracy”, most of them prominent leaders of the opposition to the authoritarian regime imposed by President Kais Saied.

“The investigating judge of Office 36 of the anti-terrorist section has issued a decision prohibiting the media from covering the two cases of conspiracy against state security,” a judicial spokesman, Hanan el Qadash, was quoted as saying. by the official Tunisian news agency, TAP.

This ban affects only the “audiovisual media” to protect the privacy of the people involved in these cases, El Qadash has argued.

In response, the National Union of Tunisian Journalists has rejected the court decision as “lacking legal basis”. Specifically, it considers that it is contrary to Article 55 of the Constitution, which establishes freedom of the press and only provides for exceptions based on principles of necessity.

The union organization has reported that it has already appealed the measure, has asked to “depart from the logic of concealment and prior censorship” and has called on the authorities to inform themselves of the judicial processes in a similar way to what happens in other countries. . In any case, they have stressed that the information will continue to circulate through foreign media and the Internet.

Amnesty International has denounced the “unfounded accusations” against 21 dissidents since February. At least twelve of them have been detained, according to Amnesty.

The detainees have been described as “terrorists” and accused of preparing attacks, for which they are charged with ten crimes classified in the Penal Code, including Article 72, which provides for the death penalty for “trying to change the nature of the State.”

Among those accused are Rashid Ganuchi, leader of the Islamist Ennahda party; or Neyib Chebbi, leader of the National Salvation Front, as well as lawyers, journalists and activists. Since December, at least 30 government opponents have been detained, according to Human Rights Watch.

Saied has promoted since July 2021 a series of measures to reform the political system of Tunisia, including a constitutional referendum, approved in the midst of the opposition boycott, which reinforces the powers of the Presidency. The opposition has denounced an authoritarian drift of the president and has demanded his resignation.

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