Sonia
Dahmani

Update, 12 November 2026: Sonia Dahmani has been out of prison since 27 November 2025, but she remains under several prison sentences imposed under Decree-Law 54. Her appeal against a two-year sentence handed down in May 2026 was pending at the time of the most recent reports, and she can be returned to prison if the sentences are enforced.

Background and Work

Sonia Dahmani is a Tunisian lawyer, a member of the Tunisian Bar Association, and a writer and media commentator. Before her arrest she appeared regularly on radio and television, including on the morning programme "Emission Impossible" on the independent station IFM and on "Denya Zina" on the Carthage Plus channel. Her commentary covered the independence of the judiciary, civil liberties, prison conditions, and the treatment of migrants and refugees from sub-Saharan Africa.

Her public remarks led to a series of complaints before her arrest. In November 2023 an investigative judge summoned her after a complaint by the General Directorate of Prisons over comments she made on the radio about conditions of detention. In January 2024 she was summoned again after a complaint by the Minister of Justice over her statement that putting people in prison was not an achievement.

The Arrest

On 8 May 2024, on a Carthage Plus programme, she answered a question about whether migrants wished to settle in Tunisia by asking what kind of extraordinary country was meant, when half of its young people wanted to leave. She was summoned by an investigative judge and did not appear. On the evening of 11 May 2024 masked members of the security forces in civilian clothing entered the headquarters of the Tunisian Bar Association in Tunis and arrested her. A France 24 journalist filming the scene was briefly detained.

The same day police also arrested two IFM journalists from the programme on which she appeared, the presenter Borhen Bsaies and the commentator Mourad Zghidi. On 13 May 2024 an investigative judge ordered her detention under Article 24 of Decree-Law 54, which punishes the spreading of false news with up to five years in prison, and the Bar Association began a strike in protest.

Detention Conditions and Health

She was held in Manouba women's prison near Tunis. Her family and lawyers said that before a hearing on 20 August 2024 prison staff searched her in a way that involved forced undressing. In December 2024 Amnesty International reported that she faced freezing cold because of a broken window, was denied clean clothing and medication, was subjected to humiliating treatment by guards, and had developed serious health problems. Her sister, Ramla Dahmani, told the Committee to Protect Journalists that she was denied treatment for conditions that developed in detention, including diabetes, thyroid problems and high blood pressure.

Legal Proceedings

The authorities have brought five separate cases against her, all over media statements. On 6 July 2024 the Tunis Court of First Instance sentenced her to one year in prison for spreading false news over the May 2024 remarks; on 10 September 2024 an appeal court reduced this to eight months, ruling without a hearing and without her lawyers present. In October 2024 she was sentenced to two years over comments on IFM about racism against sub-Saharan Africans, reduced to 18 months on appeal on 24 January 2025. On 30 June 2025 she received a further two-year sentence over the same comments as broadcast on Carthage Plus.

She was released from Manouba prison on 27 November 2025 under a release order issued by the Minister of Justice for prisoners who have served half their sentence. Her lawyer, Sami Ben Ghazi, said her remaining cases were not dropped. On 13 April 2026 the Tunis Court of Appeal upheld the June 2025 conviction and reduced the sentence to 18 months; the defence argued that she had been tried twice for the same words. On 22 May 2026 the Tunis Court of First Instance sentenced her to two years for spreading false news likely to harm a public official, over comments made in 2023 about prison conditions, following the complaint lodged on behalf of the General Directorate of Prisons. Her lawyers appealed, which suspends execution of the sentence.

In July 2025 her sister, Ramla Dahmani, was sentenced in absentia to two years in prison under Decree-Law 54 for speaking publicly about her case.

International Response

On 31 May 2024 four UN special rapporteurs, among them Margaret Satterthwaite, Irene Khan and Mary Lawlor, condemned the violent arrests of Sonia Dahmani and of the lawyer Mehdi Zagrouba at the Bar Association. On 14 July 2025 UN experts said that the charges against her appeared to stem solely from her public speech, in a statement on the situation of lawyers in Tunisia that also named Ahmed Souab and Ayachi Hammami. Amnesty International issued urgent actions in May and December 2024 calling for her release, and the Gulf Centre for Human Rights and the Committee to Protect Journalists documented her case.

The Committee to Protect Journalists gave her its International Press Freedom Award in 2025, in her absence. The European Parliament adopted an urgency resolution calling for her release on the day she left prison. In September 2026 the Committee to Protect Journalists described her situation as one of deferred imprisonment, alongside the cases of the imprisoned journalists Borhen Bsaies, Mourad Zghidi and Zied El Heni.