A Tunisian court has sentenced sitting Member of Parliament Ahmed Saidani to eight months in prison for insulting the President, Kais Saied. On Thursday, 19 February 2026, the court convicted Saidani of “insulting others via communication networks” under Tunisia’s telecommunications law, an offence that carries a potential prison term of up to two years.
Saidani, a lawmaker from the Sovereign National Line bloc, was arrested earlier this month after publishing a Facebook post mocking Saied during a period of deadly flooding. In the post, Saidani sarcastically referred to the president as the “supreme commander of sanitation and rainwater drainage,” as he crticised the government’s response to recent flooding in various areas of the country.
In recent years, several prominent opposition leaders — including Rached Ghannouchi and Abir Moussi — have been jailed on charges ranging from conspiracy to terrorism-related offences and defamation.
Ahmed Saidani was a previous supporter of Kais Saied and also supported him in his coup in 2021. He was elected to the Tunisian parliament for the first time in 2022 in an election mired by human rights abuses as Kais Saied consolidated his power. His sudden fallout with the Tunisian dictator is unusual in a political climate marked by repression and censorship.
Newsroom
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