Prominent Tunisian Journalist Mohamed Yousfi Arrested Amid Intensifying Crackdown on Dissent

Protesters recently chanted against President Kais Saied in Tunis, Tunisia, demanding the restoration of democracy and calling for the release of jailed activists and journalists amid a worsening economic and social crisis. Tunisian police have now arrested prominent journalist Mohamed Yousfi, a vocal critic of President Kais Saied’s rule, according to the head of the National Syndicate of Tunisian Journalists speaking to Reuters.

Local journalists reported that police stated Yousfi, the editor-in-chief of the investigative news website Al-Qatiba, was brought in on Friday for questioning, though the exact focus of the investigation remains unknown. Tunisian authorities have not yet commented on the arrest, which marks the latest development in a string of prosecutions targeting media figures and activists in Tunisia this year.

The broader crackdown has seen several other high-profile sentences. Khaoula Boukrim, founder of the news website TUMEDIA who fled to France last year, was sentenced in June to four years in absentia. Meanwhile, prominent journalist Zied el-Heni received a one-year prison sentence in May, and broadcaster Mourad Zeghidi alongside political commentator Borhen Bsaies were sentenced in January to three and a half years.

Rights groups have continually warned of a widening crackdown on independent voices in Tunisia under President Kais Saied, whose administration has dismantled democratic safeguards and enabled authorities to pursue critics more aggressively. Compounding these concerns, Tunisia’s Court of Cassation recently upheld a mass trial against 40 figures, including opposition leaders, lawyers, and human rights defenders convicted of conspiring to overthrow the president.

“The ruling confirms that the judiciary is not independent,” stated Haifa Chebbi, a lawyer whose father, opposition leader Najib Chebbi, was among those sentenced to 12 years. In response to the ongoing legal actions, Tunisia’s Minister of Justice Leila Jaffel maintained that the defendants sought to destabilise the country.