Dozens of journalists protested in Tunisia on Tuesday over the arrest of a reporter on money-laundering charges, accusations his lawyer said were unfounded.
Mohamed Yousfi, editor-in-chief of the Alqatiba website, was detained on Friday when he arrived for a radio interview in capital Tunis and has been in custody since.
His lawyer, Hela Ben Salem, said Yousfi faced financial crime charges with prosecutors accusing him of receiving suspicious funds from abroad.
Ben Salem said at a press conference before the protest that the charges came under “anti-terror and illicit enrichment laws”, but she said the case contained “no concrete evidence” of wrongdoing.
The National Syndicate of Tunisian Journalists (SNJT) said Yousfi’s health deteriorated while in detention, after undergoing surgery for appendicitis following his arrest.
The SNJT also said members of his defence had to leave an interrogation to bring him medication as Yousfi was “screaming loudly from pain”.
Press freedom groups have voiced concerns over civil liberties in Tunisia, where journalists, lawyers, opposition figures and activists have faced arrest and prosecution in recent years.
Zied Dabbar, head of the SNJT, told AFP that Yousfi’s arrest came as part of a broader crackdown on journalists in Tunisia.
“We are faced with clear scenarios: prison, prosecution or exile,” he said. “The authorities and the ruling establishment are repressing journalists.”
Oussama Bouagila, North Africa director at Reporters Without Borders (RSF), said in a statement there was “nothing in the case to justify the continued detention of Yousfi”.
“The accusation is based on a post that does not even mention his name, and his detention comes in the context of a smear campaign aimed at silencing him,” said Bouagila, calling for his immediate release.
Alqatiba is an independent Tunisian media outlet known for investigative reporting and long-form coverage of political, economic, social and environmental issues.
Dabbar previously said Yousfi had been due to discuss water issues in Tunisia during the radio interview.
Water cuts have affected parts of Tunisia in previous summers, but this year’s outages spread across much of the country, compounded by a shortage of bottled water.
Tunisia emerged as the only democracy of the Arab Spring demonstrations of 2011, but since President Kais Saied staged a sweeping power grab in 2021, rights groups have criticised a major rollback of freedoms.
Many, including journalists, currently stand behind bars or are facing prosecution also under a law Saied enacted in 2022 to prohibit “spreading false news”.
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