"Ben Chouchane, who was arrested in January 2024, had been sentenced to death by a court in Nabeul, east of Tunis, on Wednesday, Bouthelja told the AFP news agency. His client had been found guilty of insulting the president, the minister of justice and the judiciary, spreading false news and some of his social media posts were also deemed to be incitement, Bouthelja added."
"Bouthelja told AFP that he had filed an appeal against his sentence on Friday but was later informed Ben Chouchane withdrew it, allowing a presidential pardon to be granted. Bouthelja said he had been astonished by the death sentence, which rights groups said represented a chilling new level of repression amid tightening restrictions on speech since Saied mounted a sweeping power grab in 2021."
"Heba Morayef, regional director at Amnesty International, had described the verdict as a significant escalation and an outrageous assault on human rights. The use of capital punishment in this case is a stark and horrifying illustration of a government weaponizing the justice system to crush freedom of expression and the slightest sign of dissent, she said in a statement on Monday."
Saber Ben Chouchane was pardoned and released from prison and returned home to his family after leaving jail overnight. He had been arrested in January 2024 and sentenced to death by a court in Nabeul for insulting President Kais Saied, the minister of justice and the judiciary, spreading false news, and for social media posts deemed to be incitement. His lawyer Oussama Bouthelja said an appeal was filed then withdrawn, which allowed a presidential pardon to be granted. Human rights groups including Amnesty International and the Paris-based CRLDHT condemned the verdict as a severe escalation and a chilling suppression of free expression.
Read at www.aljazeera.com
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