Tunisian lawyer and columnist Sonia Dahmani was sentenced on Monday to two additional years in prison by a Tunisian court for comments criticizing racism against migrants in Tunisia. This information was confirmed to AFP by her lawyer, Me Sami Ben Ghazi.
This new conviction falls under Decree-Law 54, related to the fight against « fake news, » a controversial law enacted in September 2022 by President Kaïs Saied, widely condemned by human rights defenders for its vague and repressive nature.
Ms. Dahmani, 60, a vocal critic of the current regime, was violently arrested on May 11, 2024, at the premises of the National Bar Association by plainclothes, masked police officers, an intervention deemed illegal by many of her fellow lawyers.
The sentence handed down this Monday concerns a radio interview in which she denounced the existence of cemeteries and buses reserved for Black people in certain Tunisian regions, remarks perceived as a denunciation of structural racism in the country.
Sonia Dahmani is currently facing five separate cases, all related to statements made in the media or on social networks, and all based on Decree 54.
This new sentence comes amid a tense political climate marked by the concentration of power in the hands of President Saied since his institutional takeover in July 2021.
Since then, several opponents, journalists, lawyers, and civil society activists have been arrested and prosecuted, either under Decree 54, anti-terrorism laws, or for « conspiracy against state security. »
President Kaïs Saied’s controversial statement in February 2023, denouncing the arrival of « hordes of illegal sub-Saharan migrants » and alleging a plot to alter the country’s demographic makeup, triggered a wave of violence and discrimination against Black migrants.