Journalists Hamza Belloumi and Insaf Boughdiri sentenced to one year in prison in Moncef Marzouki video case

This ruling stems from a complaint filed in 2015 by former President Moncef Marzouki, following the broadcast of a video on their show that allegedly showed him calling for a "bloodbath" in Tunisia. It was later revealed that the video was a montage. Belloumi stated that he and Boughdiri believed the case had been closed and that they were unable to exercise their right to defense during both the initial and appeal proceedings.

They have appealed the judgments, asserting their innocence and describing the incident as a professional error for which they had publicly apologized. A search warrant has also been issued for Belloumi and Boughdiri. In the same case, Noureddine Ben Ticha and Chahrazed Akacha also received one-year prison sentences and 8,000 dinar fines.

Moncef Marzouki, in a Facebook statement, clarified that he filed the complaint in 2015, after his presidency, believing it was then legitimate to pursue legal action against those who disseminated a falsified video attributing a call for violence to him. He questioned the timing of the judicial decision, rendered more than ten years after the events, and why others who allegedly broadcast similar content were not prosecuted. Marzouki also criticized the state of justice in Tunisia, which he con