Tunis court gives Tunisian lawyer and journalist Sonia Dahmani two-year prison sentence

Two years in prison is the sentence a Tunis court handed down Friday in a case that has turned a 2023 radio interview into a fresh test of free expression and oversight of detention conditions in Tunisia. ^[1]

The Tunis Court of First Instance delivered the verdict after a hearing on May 22, 2026, sentencing lawyer and journalist Sonia Dahmani, a prominent human rights advocate, according to her attorney, Sami Ben Ghazi. ^[1] The prosecution stemmed from a complaint filed by Tunisia’s General Administration of Prisons, Ben Ghazi said, after Dahmani criticised prison conditions during the 2023 broadcast. ^[1]

Ben Ghazi said he has lodged an appeal against the ruling, keeping the case active as Dahmani faces imprisonment over comments made in the course of her journalism. ^[1] The two-year term, he said, was tied directly to her remarks about conditions behind bars, a subject that has often drawn scrutiny from rights groups and the authorities alike. ^[2]

The verdict, issued at the end of Friday’s session, capped a legal process triggered by the prisons administration’s complaint and has intensified attention on how Tunisia is using the courts to respond to criticism of state institutions. ^[2]