By Tarek Amara
TUNIS, April 17 (Reuters) – Tunisian comedian and actor Lotfi Abdelli said on Friday a court in Tunisia had sentenced him in absentia to 18 months in prison over a play he performed years ago, and described the ruling as politically motivated and aimed at stifling critical voices.
Tunisian media reported that Abdelli had been charged with insulting state officials and offending public morals.
He has in recent months stepped up his satirical criticism of President Kais Saied over his handling of the situation in Tunisia, where rights groups say the government has cracked down on dissent since Saied began ruling by decree in 2021.
In a satirical video published this week, Abdelli said Saied was like “a king” who has no solutions to Tunisia’s problems, embraces people in the streets only on official visits and sends critics to jail.
A court spokesperson did not respond to Reuters’ calls seeking comment.
“This ruling is aimed at intimidating artists, silencing free and critical voices. It is a political verdict,” Abdelli told Reuters by phone from Paris, where he now lives.
“The verdict hurts me, but it is also a source of pride that adds to my artistic achievements, because I am being sentenced to prison over my play, and freedom of expression.”
Abdelli, 56, a film and television actor, has had his shows performed for years to packed houses. He has long mocked politicians in Tunisia and portrayed them in a caricatured manner.
Free speech had initially flourished following the 2011 uprising that toppled autocrat 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.
The leaders of Tunisia’s main opposition parties have been jailed in the last three years, along with dozens of politicians, journalists, 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, but that no one is above accountability, regardless of their name or position.
(Editing by Timothy Heritage)
