A Tunisian court sentenced a man to death last week for peaceful Facebook posts, Human Rights Watch said today. He received a presidential pardon days later, but this is an unprecedented sentence for nonviolent expression in Tunisia. Tunisian authorities should stop detaining and prosecuting people solely for exercising their right of expression.
Saber Ben Chouchane, 51, was arrested on January 22, 2024, on his way to a medical appointment, his family said. On October 1, 2025, the Nabeul Court of First Instance sentenced him to death in connection with his Facebook posts. Ben Chouchane was released on October 7 following a presidential pardon after his conviction sparked public outrage in Tunisia.
"The authorities' crackdown on free speech has reached an unprecedented peak with this death sentence for expressing discontent online," said Bassam Khawaja, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "Despite the presidential pardon, this shocking sentence sends a chilling message to all Tunisians that no criticism will be tolerated from anyone, no matter what form it takes."
Ben Chouchane is the father of three children and lives in Nabeul governorate. He was held in pretrial detention longer than the 14-month maximum time permitted by Tunisian law. According to his family, he was denied medical care in detention despite a prior injury that requires medical attention.
Ben Chouchane was convicted under article 72 of the penal code, which provides for the death penalty for "attempting to change the form of government." He was also convicted under article 67 for "insulting the president," as well as article 24 of the Decree-Law 54 on Cybercrime for "spreading fake news," his lawyers Leila Haddad and Oussama Bouthelja told Human Rights Watch. The criminal chamber of Nabeul Court, composed of five judges, ruled to impose the most severe sentence available.
This is the first known death sentence for peaceful expression in Tunisia, Human Rights Watch said.
Human Rights Watch reviewed existing posts on Ben Chouchane's Facebook account that were posted some days before his arrest and determined they constitute peaceful speech protected under international human rights law. In one post, Ben Chouchane appeared in a photo during a protest in Tunis with a sign calling for the release of political prisoners. He previously reposted messages calling on Tunisians to take to the streets to oppose the "confiscation of the revolution" and a call for a protest to demand the release of political prisoners on the anniversary of the 2011 Tunisian revolution.
Following President Kais Saied's power grab in July 2021, authorities dramatically intensified their repression of dissent. They have increasingly curtailed freedom of expression by prosecuting and imprisoning people, including social media users, journalists, activists and lawyers, for their media or online statements.
Tunisian authorities have systematically used arbitrary detention for speech offenses, turning it into a cornerstone of their repressive policies. They have brought abusive security- and terrorism-related charges, including those punishable by death, to target political opponents and activists, muzzle perceived critics, and deprive Tunisians of their civil and political rights. Since 2022, Saied and his government have also systematically undermined the judiciary's independence, weaponizing it to imprison or silence the president's most prominent critics and opponents.
At least a dozen dissidents were tried this year on charges that could carry the death sentence, and were handed lengthy prison terms.
While Tunisia has observed a de facto moratorium on executions since 1991, courts continue to hand down death sentences. According to Amnesty International, Tunisian courts imposed more than 12 death sentences in 2024, bringing the total number of people in Tunisia known to be under a death sentence to 148 by the end of that year.
Human Rights Watch opposes capital punishment in all countries and in all circumstances as a matter of principle because this form of punishment is inhumane, unique in its cruelty and irreversibility, and universally plagued with arbitrariness, prejudice, and error.
Tunisia is a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, which guarantee the right to freedom of expression and assembly, to a fair trial, and to not be subject to arbitrary arrest or detention.
"Such an utterly unjustifiable sentence is an outrageous response to peaceful online criticism and only serves to discredit the judiciary," Khawaja said. "The fact that Ben Chouchane received an almost immediate presidential pardon goes to show the extreme nature of the sentence, how out of touch the judiciary has become, and how embarrassing this sentence was for Tunisia."
