A Tunis court on Monday sentenced prominent lawyer and media commentator Sonia Dhamani, a well-known critic of President Kais Saied, to two years in prison, her attorneys said. The verdict was issued under the 2022 cyber-crime statute Decree 54, which criminalises online content deemed harmful to state institutions. Dhamani was arrested last year after a television appearance in which she questioned the authorities’ handling of undocumented migrants from sub-Saharan Africa. Her defence team walked out of the hearing when the judge refused to delay proceedings, arguing she was being prosecuted twice for the same statement. Domestic and international rights groups called the ruling further evidence of a widening clampdown on dissent that has gathered pace since Saied assumed expanded powers in 2021. Advocacy organisations say more than 50 journalists, lawyers and activists are currently jailed under Decree 54, and opposition leader Abir Moussi was recently transferred to a remote prison after receiving a separate two-year sentence.