Tunisian lawyer and columnist Sonia Dahmani received a two-year jail sentence from the Tunis Court of First Instance on Friday for her remarks criticizing prison conditions during a 2023 radio interview [1, 2]. The complaint was filed by the General Administration of Prisons after her interview aired.

Dahmani, a prominent critic of President Kais Saied, faces prosecution in five separate cases linked to media statements under Decree 54, a "false information" law passed by Saied in 2022 [1, 2]. She was previously convicted to 18 months in May 2024 for a sarcastic comment about migrants during Tunisia’s economic crisis. In April 2025, an appeals court sentenced her to another 18 months for criticizing racial segregation against Black people in cemeteries and buses [1, 2].

She was arrested in a May 2024 police raid at the Bar Association and held for over 18 months before release on conditional parole in November 2024 [1, 2]. Human rights groups have raised concern over increasing repression and a decline in freedom of expression since Saied’s 2021 power consolidation.

Sami Ben Ghazi, Dahmani’s lawyer, said he has lodged an appeal against the latest verdict [1]. In a statement in Chinese, Ben Ghazi confirmed the judgment was announced Monday after Friday's hearing and that the appeal process is underway [2].

Since Decree 54 was enacted in 2022, Dahmani’s case illustrates the legal pressure being used against critics. The prison administration’s complaint focused on her critical 2023 radio interview targeting detention conditions [1, 2].

The court proceedings follow a timeline of escalating legal actions: Decree 54’s passage in 2022, Dahmani's prison comments in 2023, her May 2024 arrest and 18-month sentence, conditional parole in November 2024, additional sentencing in April 2025, and now the latest two-year jail term in May 2026 [1, 2].

Dahmani remains a significant figure in Tunisia’s ongoing contest over media freedom and political dissent. The Tunis Court of First Instance’s ruling marks the newest sentence in a series of legal challenges she faces. An appeal hearing on the two-year sentence is expected as her legal team pursues a challenge to the conviction.