Tunisian police arrested Mohamed Yousfi, editor-in-chief of the investigative news website Al-Qatiba, on Friday, according to the head of the National Syndicate of Tunisian Journalists who spoke to Reuters. Police brought him in for questioning, local journalists said, though the focus of the investigation remains unknown. Tunisian authorities have not commented on the arrest.
The arrest is the latest in a series of prosecutions of media figures and activists this year. Khaoula Boukrim, founder of the news website TUMEDIA who fled to France, was sentenced in June to four years in absentia. Journalist Zied el-Heni received a one-year prison sentence in May.
Broadcaster Mourad Zeghidi and political commentator Borhen Bsaies were sentenced in January to three and a half years. Tunisia's Court of Cassation upheld these convictions on Thursday as part of a mass trial against 40 figures including opposition leaders, lawyers and human rights defenders, who were convicted of conspiring to overthrow President Kais Saied.
Haifa Chebbi, a lawyer whose father opposition leader Najib Chebbi was among those sentenced to 12 years, said the ruling "confirms that the judiciary is not independent." Tunisia's Minister of Justice Leila Jaffel said the defendants sought to destabilise the country.
