Tunisia: Decree 54 rewritten, prison time removed for 'fake news' for first-time offenders

Tunisia has rewritten Article 24 of Decree-Law 54, the text that punishes the dissemination of "fake news" online: the five-year prison sentence has been removed for first-time offenders, replaced by a fine of 10,000 to 20,000 dinars. The amendment was published in the Official Gazette on September 30, 2026, according to Business News Tunisie, following a Council of Ministers meeting held on September 29 presided over by President Kaïs Saïed, as reported by Le Courrier de l'Atlas.

In its September 2022 version, Article 24 provided for five years of imprisonment and a 50,000 dinar fine for the publication of false information electronically, with penalties doubled when the target was a public official. The new text retains a custodial sentence—six months—but reserves it for repeat offenders, who also remain liable for a 50,000 dinar fine.

Four years of prosecution

Decree 54 had become the symbol of the crackdown on public speech in Tunisia. The National Syndicate of Tunisian Journalists (SNJT) has recorded hundreds of prosecutions since 2022 and tallied 1,115 cumulative days of detention for journalists under this text as of autumn 2024, reports Business News. Between April 2025 and April 2026, fourteen journalists were prosecuted, six of them based on Decree 54, according to Al Jazeera.

"The punishment has been reduced"

The easing of the law satisfies neither freedom advocacy organizations nor the opposition. For activist Rafik Abdessalem, quoted by Al Jazeera, "the punishment has been reduced" but its repressive nature remains. The leader of the Democratic Current, Hichem Ajbouni, points out that Article 24 had not been used much in recent months, as prosecutors were now relying on Article 86 of the Telecommunications Code, anti-terrorism legislation, or anti-money laundering texts, according to Le Courrier de l'Atlas. Former minister Faouzi Ben Abderrahman questions the real effect of the reform, asking who can afford to pay such a fine for a simple post.

The SNJT and NGOs are calling for the complete repeal of the decree and a return to the 2011 decree-law on freedom of the press, a framework born from the Tunisian revolution.

What comes next

Two questions remain open. First, the application to ongoing and already judged cases, which will depend on the rules for the application of criminal law over time, notes Business News. Second, the timing: the reform comes as Tunisian unions were preparing for a national mobilization and international pressure was being applied, including from the US Congress, according to Al Jazeera. For the country's journalists, the test will be simple to read: the number of prosecutions initiated in the coming months, across all legal texts.