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Jailed Tunisian critic released
Jailed Tunisian critic released
Jailed Tunisian lawyer and writer Sonia Dahmani was freed from prison on Thursday after being granted a conditional release.
Dahmani, 60, was arrested by masked men in May 2024 and faced charges in several cases over her comments on radio and television denouncing racism in Tunisia. She was convicted in at least three cases in recent months.
Speaking to AFP after her release, Dahmani said she still faced ongoing cases and would attend court for all of them.
"I am not a woman to flee or avoid the courts. I will present myself each time I am summoned and we will see it through to the end, waiting for the infamous Article 24 to be abolished."
She was referring to a presidential decree issued in 2022 that punishes the dissemination of false information with five years of prison.
Dahmani predicted that the decree "won't last a long time".
"Everyone has fully realised that this Article 24 is extremely dangerous for our freedoms and so I think that we will see all these people detained under Article 24 of Decree 54 being released."
Sami Ben Ghazi, one of her lawyers, later confirmed to AFP that she remains under judicial supervision.
Dahmani was granted the conditional release "based on a decision by the justice ministry", several media outlets reported, without elaborating.
Some media reported that she was released after a medical expert said she experienced a deterioration in her health, noting that she suffers from diabetes, hypertension and thyroid issues.
A sharp critic of President Kais Saied, Dahmani was most recently sentenced in late June to two years in prison while she was already serving sentences of more than two years combined.
Her sentencing in June was related to comments in which she criticised the existence of cemeteries and buses reserved for black people in certain parts of the country.
She faced a string of charges in separate cases brought under legislation introduced by Saied in 2022 to combat "false information and rumours".
Also on Thursday, the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling for Dahmani's "immediate and unconditional release, together with all other individuals detained for the same offences".
Saied was elected in 2019 after Tunisia emerged as the only democracy to come out of the Arab Spring.
In 2021, he staged a sweeping power grab, and human rights groups have since warned of a rollback on freedoms.
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This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
