Tunisian court jails lawmaker for mocking president

A Tunisian court has sentenced lawmaker Ahmed Saidani to eight months in prison over social media posts mocking President Kais Saied.

Saidani, who was once a supporter of Saied’s policies against political opponents, has become a vocal critic, accusing the president of seeking to monopolise all decision-making while leaving others to bear the blame for problems.

The lawmaker was jailed on charges of insulting others through communication networks on Thursday, February 19, 2026.

Saidani was arrested this month after he mocked the president in a Facebook post, describing him as the “supreme commander of sewage and rainwater drainage”.

“This is a violation of the law and an attack on institutions. How can parliament hold the executive authority to account if it carries out an unlawful arrest over critical views”, Bilel Mechri, a colleague of Saidani, told Reuters.

56-year-old man sentenced to death for criticising Tunisia’s president

Saidani was elected as a lawmaker at the end of 2022 in a parliamentary election with very low voter turnout, following Saied’s dissolution of the previous parliament and dismissal of the government in 2021.

Saied has since ruled by decree, moves the opposition has described as a coup.

Most opposition leaders, some journalists and critics of Saied have been imprisoned since he seized control of most powers.

Human rights groups say Saied has cemented his one‑man rule and turned Tunisia into an “open‑air prison” in an effort to suppress his opponents.

Saied says he is enforcing the law and seeking to “cleanse” the country.

The Star