According to the statements reported by the TAP agency, lawyer Ghazi Mrabet, a member of the defense team of journalist Mourad Zeghidi, said on Wednesday that his client’s imprisonment is only linked to his critical political analyzes broadcast on the radio.
Mr. Mrabet stressed that Zeghidi’s words “have never included any appeal to hatred or damage to the dignity of Tunisians”, and that the money laundering affair is not based on “any material evidence”.
He said that all the parts presented by La Défense demonstrate that Zeghidi has received no foreign funding. According to him, the financial accusations only concern the non-payment of certain invoices, an offense which falls under civil and non-criminal litigation.
The lawyer said that an amicable regulations should have been considered, as is usually done in this type of file. He also indicated that searches carried out last May, as well as the seizure of Zeghidi’s phones, did not lead to any incriminating element.
The defense plans to file a provisional release request in the coming days.
For her part, Fethi El Mouldi, also a member of the defense team, recalled that the decision to open an investigation for suspicion of money laundering last December had been a shock, arising while Zeghidi was to leave the prison in January.
He says that Zeghidi’s financial movements since 2014 have been examined, without any suspicious operation having been established, surprising in the way in which the investigation was carried out.
Zied Dabbar, president of the National Union of Tunisian Journalists (SNJT), said that Mourad Zeghidi is “a victim of decree 54”, which he considers a threat to press freedom. He reiterated the union’s commitment alongside all free voices.
As a reminder, the summer correctional chamber of the Tunis Court of Appeal reduced Zeghidi’s penalty from twelve to eight months in prison on July 30, 2024. Incarcerated since May 11, 2023, he was prosecuted in two cases related to the alleged dissemination of false information and defamation through information systems.
