The Federation of Asia Pacific Journalists (FAPAJ) has called on the Tunisian regime to release immediately journalist Mohamed El Yousfi, who was arrested on September 4 outside the offices of radio station Express FM as he was preparing to take part in a program on water policy in Tunisia.
FAPAJ, which brings together representatives of journalists’ organizations from five Asia-Pacific sub-regions, has urged Tunisian authorities to stop using arrest, detention, intimidation and prosecution to silence journalists and restrict legitimate journalistic work.
The imprisonment of journalists for their work or the expression of critical views threatens independent journalism and undermines the public’s right to receive information, said the Federation, noting that journalism is not a crime.
El Yousfi is the latest journalist to be imprisoned in Tunisia because of his work or public positions. He joins Mourad Zeghidi and Borhen Bsaïes, who have been detained since May 2024 and sentenced to lengthy prison terms, as well as Zied El Heni, who was arrested in April 2026 and sentenced to one year in prison after criticizing a judicial decision.
According to Human Rights Watch, Tunisian authorities are escalating repression on local and international civil society groups, workers, members, and affiliates through the weaponization of abusive prosecutions, arbitrary arrests, detention, financial and criminal investigations, mass suspensions, and threats of dissolution.
Fifteen years after protests in Tunisia sparked the 2011 Arab uprising and gave rise to a flourishing civil society, President Kais Saied grabbed power on July 25, 2021, kicking off a slide back into authoritarianism. Since then, the president has consolidated power and replaced the 2014 Constitution. He severely undermined the separation of powers by weakening parliament and eroding the independence of the judiciary.
Tunisian government repression has targeted political opposition and independent voices, with authorities intimidating, arbitrarily detaining, prosecuting, and convicting critics for exercising their human rights.
