Tunisian justice sentenced Tuesday July 14, the blogger Emna Chargui to six months in prison for having relayed on social networks a surah of the Koran, hijacked to encourage people to wash their hands to protect themselves from the Covid- 19.

This 27-year-old young woman was found guilty of attacking religion and inciting hatred, after having shared on May 4 on the social network this publication entitled "Surah Corona". Nine months after President Kaïs Saïed came to power, his trial had a test value for freedom of expression in Tunisia. 

On May 4, the blogger was summoned by the judicial police and two days later, she went to justice for violating article 6 of the Tunisian Constitution deciding that "the state protects religion" and "the sacred ". Seven members of a public prosecutor's office then subjected her to close interrogation. On May 7, she was charged with "inciting hatred between religions for the use of hostile methods or violence" under article 52 of the press freedom law decree.

Death and rape threats

The young woman also had to face death threats, intimidation, calls for rape relayed on social networks. Questioned on May 28 by France 24, Emna Chargui said she was frightened and overwhelmed by events.

"I'm really scared because I had no bad intentions, I didn't think it would take on such a scale and that we would end up with threats. I don't have any protection so I got to the point to be afraid for my own life. I have no future in Tunisia. I am no longer safe there, "she said. However, the day the trial resumed in early July, Emna Chargui explained to France 24 that she wanted to "defend freedom of expression to the end" and "assume the sharing of the publication".

Since the beginning of this case, Emna Chargui has benefited from the support of several human rights associations which believe that diverting the Koran to save lives is nothing illegal. On May 27, Amnesty International called on the Tunisian authorities to "end the prosecution of Emna Chargui" and to "investigate and protect her worrisome death and rape threats."

Several media trials for "undermining the sacred"

Questioned by France 24, the representative of the International Federation for Human Rights in Tunis, Khitem Bargaoui, also believed that this trial had "no place to be". "The trial which should be held should be that against those who called to rape and kill Emna".

"We can understand that the text offends sensitivities but not that it leads to a lawsuit. In addition, it must be emphasized that Emna did not produce this content, she just relayed it. She wanted to circulate very important information about the virus, in a different way, with humor. It is very disappointing to experience this in Tunisia, "deplored Khitem Bargaoui.

This case is not, however, a first in Tunisia, which has already experienced media trials for "undermining the sacred". In 2012, Jabeur Mejri and Ghazi Béji were sentenced to seven years in prison for "moral injury, defamation and disturbance of public order" after the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad on Facebook. The same year, the businessman Nabil Karoui was tried for "attacking the sacred", after having diffused on his television channel, Nessma TV, the film of the Franco-Iranian director Marjane Satrapi "Persépolis".

With AFP

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