Tunisia softens its ‘false news’ penalty. What really changed, and why now?
Lotfi Hajji, head of Al Jazeera’s bureau in Tunisia, said civil society groups and the journalists’ union were demanding Decree 54 be scrapped altogether, so that journalists could be judged under the 2011 press freedom law instead.
In 2021, during his third year in office, Saied suspended parliament, dismissed the government and began ruling by presidential decree – steps his critics have denounced as an autocratic subversion of Tunisia’s democratising political system.
Rights and media freedom advocates in Tunisia and abroad have long opposed the decree as repressive, saying it has been wielded against President Kais Saied’s opposition, activists and reporters.
This is a summary of the original articles listed below. Always read the source articles for the full context. GhanaSummary does not create or modify the news — we summarise and link to original publishers.
