The famous Tunisian cartoonist Tawfiq Omrane was placed in pre-trial detention on Thursday, September 21, for “harming others” on social networks, after the publication of caricatures criticizing the head of government of Tunisia, Ahmed Hachani, his lawyer said , Mr. Ayachi Hammami, to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
He was arrested on Thursday around 5 p.m. local time at his home in Megrine, a southern suburb of Tunis, and taken to a police station, where he was questioned for three hours in connection with two caricatures published in early August on his “Omrane Cartoons” page which criticize the choice of Mr. Hachani for the post of head of government, the lawyer said. A prosecutor decided to place him in pre-trial detention following this interrogation, he added.
“This is another violation against freedom of expression which this time affects a great cartoonist,” lamented Me Ayachi Hammami, also an opponent of the policies of Tunisian President Kaïs Saïed.
« Intimidation »
Aged 64, Tawfiq Omrane has become known since the 1980s for his political drawings. His arrest was strongly criticized on social networks by many figures from civil society who denounced “an attack on freedoms”.
The president of the National Union of Tunisian Journalists (SNJT), Mehdi Jelassi, called for “the immediate release” of the cartoonist. The SNJT and local and international NGOs regularly denounce a decline in freedoms in Tunisia since the president, Kaïs Saïed, assumed full powers on July 25, 2021. These NGOs also denounce the “intimidation” of journalists by legal proceedings and “purely political” arrests.
