The president of Tunisia's main LGBT association announced Tuesday, October 26, that he had been sentenced to one year in prison for a Facebook post deemed blasphemous towards the Prophet Muhammad, although he denies being the author.
"
The correctional chamber of the court of first instance of Tunis has just sentenced me to one year in prison, a thousand dinars fine (300 euros) and two years of administrative control for having blasphemed the prophet Muhammad
", wrote Mounir Baatour, president of the Shams association, on his Facebook page.
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Mounir Baatour lives in France after leaving Tunisia in 2019 following complaints and threats over a Facebook post attributing to him comments presenting Muhammad as sexually obsessed.
He categorically denies having made such comments.
Created in 2015, the Shams association ("
sun
" in Arabic) campaigns for the decriminalization of homosexuality in Tunisia.
Tunisian President Kais Saied opposes a decriminalization of homosexuality, but is also opposed to incarceration on the basis of sexual orientation.
Since the 2011 revolution, LGBT activists have emerged from the shadows in Tunisia, where local NGOs openly defend the rights of this community, which is still relatively rare in the Arab world.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) had expressed in 2020 its "
deep concern
" at the legal proceedings against the LGBT community in Tunisia, especially after the sentencing in June of two men to two years in prison for sodomy.
