Tunisia: Mohamed Boughalleb in police custody for 48 hours

The Tunisian judiciary has decided to place journalist Mohamed Boughalleb in pre-trial detention for 48 hours after a defamation complaint. A public sector official has accused Boughalleb of defaming her and damaging her image and reputation via posts on her Facebook page. Further, she alleges that the journalist reiterated these defamatory remarks during a television broadcast. The complainant provided her testimony on Thursday, urging that legal action be taken against Boughalleb. Afterwards, Boughalleb was questioned on Friday. Based on the interrogation, the decision was made to hold him in police custody, awaiting further confrontations between the involved parties.