Tunisian court hands one-year prison sentence to journalist for disclosing data on terrorism

Tunis Court of First Instance Tuesday sentenced a local journalist to one year in prison on charges of disclosing data on a counter-terrorism operation in Kairouan governorate.
Khalifa Guesmi, working for Mozaique FM, has been under investigation since March after his arrest and detention following the publication of an article by the media about the arrest of a group by the army in a counter-terrorism in the governorate.
Authorities accused of disclosing secret data and used the article 62 of Organic Law No. 2015-26 of August 7, 2015, on the fight against terrorism and the suppression of money laundering, for audiovisual interception.
“Anyone who intentionally discloses any of the information relating to interception, infiltration or audiovisual surveillance operations or the data collected therein shall be punished by ten years’ imprisonment, without prejudice, where applicable, to the application of the most serious penalties,” the article notes.
The journalist refused to disclose his sources in connection with the code of his profession.
The Tuesday ruling set Guesmi free pending an appeal that his defense is set to lodge today November 30th.
The court also in connection with the case handed a three-year sentence to a commander at the regional brigade of fight against terrorism of the National Guard in Kairouan for revealing information about an interception operation and aggregated data.