A lawyer for the two students said on Wednesday that police had arrested them for satirically singing about cops.
This incident heightened concerns about the deterioration of freedom of expression in Tunisia, where President Kais Saied has seized most of the country’s power in the last two years.
Youssef Chelbi and Dhia Nsir posted a video on social media this week mocking the police’s treatment of detainees and a drug law while laughing and singing along.
If the court finds them guilty of the online insulting charges brought by attorney Imen Souissi, they face a year in prison. Law enforcement and the Ministry of the Interior did not respond immediately.
Concerned activists and bloggers re-posted the song to show their support for the two men following their arrest. Activists claim that Tunisia has devolved into a massive prison with severe restrictions on basic liberties.
Tunisians gained significant protections for their right to free expression and independent media following the 2011 revolution that toppled President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali and triggered the Arab Spring.
Saied, who dissolved parliament and took absolute power in 2021, later declared that he would not be a dictator and promised to protect fundamental freedoms and rights.
His opponents, on the other hand, called his actions a coup and claimed that he had established a dictatorship, imprisoned his critics, and silenced the media.
An appeals court sentenced a radio journalist to five years in prison on Tuesday for leaking intelligence community secrets.
The country’s main journalists’ union has condemned the ruling, calling it the harshest punishment ever meted out to a journalist in Tunisia, even harsher than during the country’s most repressive eras. With the verdict came a message to keep journalists quiet.
The arrests of several prominent opposition leaders this year have been condemned by the opposition as further consolidation of a dictatorial regime.
In response to the criticism, Saeid stated, “They are criminals and terrorists.” On Monday, a judge sentenced Rached Ghannouchi, an opposition leader, to one year in prison for incitement.
