39 Journalists referred to judiciary outside regulatory framework since last May: Group says

By Adel Al-Thabhi

TUNIS, Tunisia (AA) - Thirty-nine Tunisian journalists were referred to the judiciary outside regulations governing journalism, the Tunisian Journalists Syndicate said Friday.

''In an unprecedented record in the country's history, 39 journalists have been referred to the judiciary outside the regulatory framework of journalism since May 2023,'' the group’s head, Ziad Dabbour, said at a news conference by the National Union of Tunisian Journalists in Tunis for World Press Freedom Day.

"What we are experiencing today is an institutional and legislative vacuum in journalism, which currently has no law after abandoning Decree 115,'' he said.

Decree 115 was a legal framework for regulating journalism issued in September 2011.

"We are being subjected to anti-terrorism laws due to our journalistic work. We are not seeking immunity but rather a provision specific to journalism,'' he added.

Tunisia has been facing a political crisis since July 2021, following President Kais Saied's exceptional measures, including the dissolution of the Judiciary Council, presidential orders and a referendum on a new Constitution.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul