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A Tunisian lawmaker, Ahmed Saidani, jailed in February for criticising President Kais Saied, regained his freedom on Tuesday after receiving a presidential pardon, his lawyer told AFP.
Ahmed Saidani was among more than 1,000 people President Saied pardoned to mark the Eid al-Adha holiday, according to his lawyer, Houssem Eddine Ben Attia.
Tunisia will celebrate Eid on Wednesday.
Authorities arrested Saidani in February before sentencing him to eight months in prison for “harming others via social media”, his lawyer said.
Saidani had commented on social media about Saied’s visits to areas affected by flooding after record rainfall in January, describing him as the “supreme commander of sanitation and stormwater drainage”.
Rights groups have warned that freedom in Tunisia has declined since Saied carried out a sweeping power grab in 2021.
Although Saidani previously supported Saied’s power grab and the detention of several opposition figures, he has recently become an outspoken critic of the president.
Authorities continue to prosecute or imprison dozens of Saied’s critics, including under a law that criminalises “false news”.
