Tunisian man sentenced to death for Facebook posts criticising president

The ruling has shocked Tunisia: 56-year-old labourer Saber Chouchane was sentenced to death over posts that criticised president Kaïs Saied on Facebook. The ruling is unprecedented in Tunisia despite its increasingly autocratic political course.

Tunisia was shaken by an unprecedented court ruling on Friday: a 56-year-old man has been sentenced to death over posts on a Facebook account used to criticise Tunisian president Kaïs Saied.

Saber Chouchane, a labourer described as a regular citizen with limited education and father of three children, regularly criticised Saied on a Facebook account called "Kaïs le misérable" ("Kaïs the miserable"), where he also called for protests and posted caricatures.

Chouchane's family has reacted with shock to the ruling, which the accused has appealed.

The Tunisian regime has severely restricted freedom of speech and other democratic rights as Saied tightened his grip on power in recent years.

A sentence as drastic as this has however never before been handed to any critics of the regime. It has sparked an outcry in the country and has left the accused man's lawyer "incredulous", according to his own words on Friday.

Death sentences have been occasionally handed down in Tunisia, but none have been carried out for decades, according to news agency Reuters.