Tunisians journalists protest over detained journalist Khalifa Guesmi and demand press freedom

Dozens of Tunisian journalists protested on Friday to demand press freedom and the release of a reporter who was detained for refusing to reveal his sources to authorities.

Khalifa Guesmi, a correspondent for the country's leading radio station Mosaique FM, was arrested on March 18 under anti-terrorism laws after refusing to reveal his sources for an article on the break-up of a "terrorist cell".

He and two other Mosaique FM reporters including editor-in-chief Houcine Dabbabi appeared before an "anti-terrorism" court on Friday morning.

SNJT head Mahdi Jlassi has called Guesmi's arrest the gravest attack on press freedom since the North African country's 2011 revolution.

Less than a week after Guesmi's arrest, plain-clothes police officers prevented two journalists from covering a protest demanding a probe into the 2018 drowning of 19-year-old football fan Omar Labidia after police allegedly forced him into a river.