Tunisian lawyer jailed by anti-terror court released from prison

Prominent Tunisian lawyer Ahmed Souab was released from prison on Monday after serving a 10-month jail term handed down by an anti-terror court.

Souab, 69, was detained in April last year after condemning a mass trial of public figures on whose defence team he had served.

Upon his release from prison in Tebourba, about 30 kilometres west of Tunis, relatives embraced Souab, who declined to comment, but flashed a V-sign.

His sentence was reduced to 10 months on appeal, which he has now served, two of his lawyers told AFP.

Souab -- also a rights advocate and a former judge -- was detained after alleging that judges were under political pressure to hand down hefty sentences last year in the mass trial of critics of President Kais Saied.

Around 40 people were sentenced to up to 45 years in prison last year for "conspiracy against state security" and "belonging to a terrorist group" in the high-profile trial.

Souab had accused authorities of putting "a knife to the throat of the judge who was to deliver the verdict."

He was charged under Decree 54, a law Saied enacted in 2022 to combat "false news," which rights advocates have criticised for its overly broad interpretation by the courts.

Souab was tried by an anti-terror court due to a gesture he made alongside the comments mimicking a knife to the throat.

In October, he was sentenced to five years in prison in a speedy trial that lasted less than two minutes.

His family had requested his release on health grounds, but a judge earlier this month rejected his provisional release.

His son, Saeb, has said he suffered a heart attack in 2022 and that his cardiologist had certified that prison conditions could worsen his health.

UN special Rapporteur on human rights defenders Mary Lawlor said earlier this month Souab had been convicted on "baseless charges."

Since Saied's power grab in July 2021, when he dissolved parliament and began ruling by decree, rights groups have warned of a sharp decline in civil liberties in the North African country.