Overview

• Defense lawyer Oussama Bouthalja identified the defendant as 56-year-old day laborer Saber Chouchane and confirmed he has appealed the Nabeul court verdict.
• The case centers on Facebook posts that authorities say insulted President Kais Saied and assaulted state security, according to the lawyer and the Tunisian League for Human Rights.
• Associated Press reported that judges also cited attempts to overthrow the state and the 2022 cybercrime Decree 54 in the conviction, reflecting broader use of speech laws against critics.
• Tunisia retains capital punishment in law but has not carried out an execution for more than three decades, and the justice ministry did not immediately comment.
• Rights advocates and many Tunisians online condemned the sentence as intimidation in a climate of shrinking freedoms since Saied consolidated power in 2021.