Two prominent Tunisian columnists were sentenced on Thursday to three and a half years each, after a court convicted them of money laundering and tax evasion.
Mourad Zeghidi and Borhen Bsaies had already spent nearly two years in detention over media commentary critical of President Kais Saied’s government.
They were due to be released in January 2025, yet prosecutors kept them behind bars under financial charges that rights groups call politically motivated.
“Three and a half years for Mourad and Borhen,” Zeghidi’s sister, Meriem Zeghidi Adda, wrote on Facebook, confirming the ruling.
The sentences arrive amid a deepening chill over Tunisia’s public life, where dissent increasingly carries the weight of prison doors.
Since Saied’s 2021 power grab, NGOs have warned of eroding freedoms and an expanding campaign against journalists, activists, and opposition figures.
Dozens face prosecution under a sweeping decree against “fake news,” a law critics say silences voices through fear and vague definitions.
Others have already received heavy prison terms in a mass trial over alleged conspiracies against state security.
Tunisia’s press freedom ranking fell sharply in 2025, sliding 11 places in the World Press Freedom Index.
Once a symbol of Arab Spring promise, the country now watches its independent voices dim under gathering legal and political shadows.