Sonia Dahmani, a Tunisian political commentator and lawyer, is serving two sentences, one eight months and another two years, in prison after she was convicted under a decree on cybercrime.
On May 11, 2024, masked police officers raided the bar association headquarters in Tunis and arrested Dahmani, a lawyer and political commentator for the independent radio station IFM and television channel Carthage Plus. She was then transferred to prison on charges of spreading false news that undermines public safety and inciting hate speech.
Dahmani was arrested after failing to respond to a May 10 summons for questioning related to her May 8 remarks on Carthage Plus, where she criticized Tunisia’s living conditions and discussed immigration issues.
On July 6, the Tunis Court of First Instance convicted Dahmani of spreading false news under to the cybercrime Decree 54, which was introduced by President Kais Saied in September 2022 under a new constitution, which replaced one of the Arab world’s most progressive constitutions, removing many previous protections for rights and freedoms. She was sentenced to one year in prison.
According to IFM, Dahmani’s family and lawyers said that ahead of her August 20 hearing, prison staff conducted a “thorough search” that included forced undressing, violating her privacy, and humiliating her.
On September 10, an appeals court upheld Dahmani’s conviction and reduced her sentence to eight months in prison without a hearing and without the presence of her lawyers.
In October 2024, she was sentenced to two additional years in prison under Decree 54, on charges of insulting the state, over her comments on IFM radio about sub-Saharan Africans in Tunisia facing racism.
Dahmani is held at the Manouba prison in Tunis, and has been denied treatment and medication due to health problems which developed due to her detention, according to a local journalist who is following the case and spoke CPJ on the condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisal. The journalist did not know the nature of the health problems.
In late 2024, CPJ emailed the president’s office requesting comment on Dahmani’s case, but did not receive a reply.