Tunisia's SNJT warns of 'mounting censorship' against press

Tunisian journalists are facing "mounting censorship" and an "unprecedented rise in threats" against press freedom, The National Syndicate of Tunisian Journalists (SNJT) said Tuesday.

In a statement, the SNJT denounced what it called ongoing attempts to "subjugate and domesticate" the media through "restrictions, harassment, and exclusion" in the country that saw the onset of the 2011 Arab Spring.

The union pointed to journalists being barred from covering politically motivated trials and denounced what it called the "concealment of information of public interest in major national matters".

Most journalists working for local and foreign news organisations have recently been prevented by police from entering courtrooms to cover trials involving political and media figures.

The union also condemned the denial of press accreditation to some journalists and authorities' refusal to issue filming permits to foreign correspondents, decrying "a clear intent to undermine the very essence of free journalism and turn the media into tools of propaganda".

Rights groups have warned of a sharp decline in civil liberties in Tunisia since a sweeping power grab by President Kais Saied in July 2021.

Many Saied critics have been prosecuted and detained under Decree 54, a law he enacted in 2022 to prohibit "spreading false news".

Tunisia dropped 11 places in the 2025 Reporters Without Borders global press freedom index, from 118th to 129th of 180 surveyed countries.

Authorities have in recent days suspended at least two major civic rights groups - the Tunisian Forum for Social and Economic Rights (FTDES) and the Association of Democratic Women (ATFD).