Tunisian police arrest prominent journalist Mohamed Yousfi

TUNIS, Sept 4 - Tunisian police on Friday arrested prominent journalist Mohamed Yousfi, an outspoken critic of President Kais Saied, the head of the journalists' syndicate told Reuters, in a move critics said was aimed at stifling dissenting voices.

Police arrested Yousfi as he was preparing to enter Express FM Radio to take part in a radio programme, said Zied Dabbar, the president of the SNJT union.

Walid Ben Rhouma, a presenter at Express FM radio who had invited Yousfi to appear on his programme, said police told him that Yousfi would be taken in for questioning, without giving any reason.

The authorities were not immediately available for comment.

Yousfi, who is also editor-in-chief of the investigative news website Al-Qatiba, has been heavily critical of Saied's policies.

Rights groups warn of growing attempts to stifle remaining independent voices in Tunisia since Saied suspended parliament in 2021 and dissolved it in 2022, ruling by decree.

Several media figures have been jailed this year, including Zied Heni, Mourad Zghidi and Borhen Bsaies, and Khaoula Boukrim, who was sentenced in June to four years in absentia.

Free speech initially flourished following the 2011 uprising that toppled Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and led to the "Arab Spring".

But critics say Saied's accumulation of power in 2021 and decrees he has issued since then have dismantled democratic safeguards and enabled the authorities to pursue many journalists.

As well as journalists, the leaders of Tunisia's main opposition parties have been jailed in the last three years, along with dozens of activists and businessmen, on charges of conspiring against state security, money-laundering and corruption.

Saied says he will not be a dictator and that freedoms are guaranteed in Tunisia. REUTERS