Tunisia Journalists Protest Over Yousfi Arrest
Last update: September 8, 2026
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Detained on his way to a live radio interview about water shortages. Now Tunisia’s press corps is pushing back.
Journalists and activists gathered outside a Tunis court on Tuesday to demand the release of Mohamed Yousfi reports cbinews.tv.
Yousfi is editor in chief of investigative site Al Qatiba and a fierce critic of President Kais Saied.
He was arrested last Friday just before entering Express FM and is now being questioned over illicit enrichment and money laundering allegations his union calls fabricated.
Zied Dabbar head of the National Syndicate of Tunisian Journalists said the situation is dark and difficult.
He told newsmen that reporters who disturb the authorities face legal persecution and that today journalists either end up in exile or in prison.
Context is key here. Free speech flourished after the 2011 uprising that toppled Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and sparked the Arab Spring. Since Saied seized broad powers in 2021 that progress has unravelled.
In the Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index Tunisia has fallen from 94th to 129th in the 2025 ranking its lowest ever position. RSF now lists it as unsafe for journalists.
Several media figures have been jailed this year including Zied Heni Mourad Zghidi and Borhen Bsaies while dozens of opposition leaders and activists have been detained in the past three years. Saied says he will not be a dictator and that freedoms remain guaranteed.
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