A Tunisian court has sentenced lawmaker Ahmed Saidani to eight months in prison over Facebook posts mocking President Kais Saied following deadly floods that swept the country last month, the latest escalation in a widening crackdown on dissent.
Saidani was arrested earlier this month after posting on social media about Saied’s visits to flood-hit areas, calling him the “supreme commander of sanitation and rainwater drainage.”
He was jailed on Thursday on charges of insulting others via communication networks, a judicial official said. His lawyer, Houssem Eddine Ben Attia, told AFP the prosecution was brought under a telecommunications law against “harming others via social media”—an offence punishable by up to two years in prison.
From Supporter to Critic
Saidani, elected as a lawmaker in 2022, was once a supporter of Saied’s consolidation of power and the arrest of opposition figures. But he has recently turned into an outspoken critic of the president.
In his now-infamous Facebook post, the lawmaker mocked Saied for “taking up the hobby of taking photos with the poor and destitute” while visiting flooded areas in Tunis and other parts of the country.
He has also accused the president of monopolizing decision-making while avoiding responsibility, leaving others to take the blame.
The Floods
At least five people died, and several remain missing after Tunisia experienced its heaviest rainfall in more than 70 years last month. The disaster overwhelmed infrastructure and exposed deep weaknesses in the country’s flood prevention systems.
Saidani’s mockery struck a nerve because it targeted not just the president but the gap between official visits and effective action.
Parliamentary Immunity?
Tunisian lawmakers have parliamentary immunity, protecting them from arrest while performing their official duties. But they can be detained for committing a criminal offence—a distinction the court found applicable in Saidani’s case.
Fellow MP Bilel Mechri condemned the sentence.
“This is a violation of the law and an attack on institutions,” Mechri told Reuters. “How can parliament hold the executive authority to account if it carries out an unlawful arrest over critical views?”
The Bigger Picture
Rights groups have criticized what they describe as an escalation of Saied’s crackdown on dissent since he suspended parliament in 2021 and began ruling by decree.
Last November, a Tunisian court handed jail terms to dozens of opposition leaders, lawyers and businessmen accused of attempting to overthrow the president.
Saied, 67, was elected in 2019, promising a return to stable government following years of political instability after longtime leader Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali was ousted by the “Arab Spring” street protests in 2011.
His critics accuse him of reimposing aspects of authoritarian rule and curtailing political freedoms. The president rejects claims of dictatorship, insisting he is upholding the law and working to “cleanse” the country.
What Happens Now
Saidani will serve his eight-month sentence. His legal team is expected to appeal. The question haunting Tunisia’s political class is whether one lawmaker’s imprisonment marks an isolated case or a precedent for how the government will treat any elected official who dares to mock the president.
For now, the “supreme commander of sanitation” sits in a prison cell. The man he mocked remains in the presidential palace. And Tunisia’s democracy, born from the Arab Spring, edges closer to the authoritarianism it overthrew.
