As temperatures in Tunisia neared 50 degrees Celsius and at least 10 prisoners died, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) urged authorities to immediately free several journalists held behind bars. The call came amid an extreme heatwave that has intensified concern over conditions in the country’s prisons.
Zied el-Heni, Mourad Zghidi, and Borhen Bsaies are serving sentences linked to their reporting. “These journalists should never have been imprisoned for their journalism and practicing their right to free speech,” the CPJ said in a statement. The advocacy group also urged Tunisian authorities not to “compound that injustice by leaving them exposed to dangerous prison conditions”.
