A Tunisian court has sentenced lawmaker Ahmed Saidani to eight months in prison over social media posts mocking President Kais Saied following recent deadly floods in the country.
Saidani was jailed on Thursday on charges of insulting others via communication networks, a judicial official said.
He had been arrested earlier this month after posting comments about the president’s visits to flood-hit areas, BBC reports.
In one of the posts, Saidani described Saied as the “supreme commander of sanitation and rainwater drainage” while reacting to his tours of affected communities.
His lawyer, Houssem Eddine Ben Attia, told AFP news agency that his client was being prosecuted under a telecommunications law against “harming others via social media”, an offence punishable by up to two years in prison.
In another Facebook post, the lawmaker mocked the president for “taking up the hobby of taking photos with the poor and destitute” during visits to flooded areas in the capital, Tunis, and other parts of the country.
Saidani, who was elected in 2022, was previously seen as a supporter of Saied’s consolidation of power and the arrest of opposition figures, but has recently emerged as an outspoken critic of the president.
He has also accused Saied of monopolising decision-making while avoiding responsibility, leaving others to take the blame.
Reacting to the development, fellow MP Bilel Mechri criticised the arrest.
“This is a violation of the law and an attack on institutions. How can parliament hold the executive authority to account if it carries out an unlawful arrest over critical views,” he told Reuters.
At least five people died and several remain missing after Tunisia experienced its heaviest rainfall in over 70 years last month.
Human rights groups have criticised what they describe as an escalation of Saied’s crackdown on dissent since he suspended Tunisia’s parliament in 2021 and began ruling by decree.
Saied, who was elected in 2019 following years of political instability after long-time leader Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali was ousted by the “Arab Spring” street protests in 2011, has rejected claims of dictatorship, insisting he is upholding the law and working to “cleanse” the country.
Under Tunisian law, lawmakers have parliamentary immunity, protecting them from arrest while performing their official duties, though they can be detained for committing a criminal offence.
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