The son-in-law of deposed Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was released Saturday after being jailed on harassment charges on Wednesday.
A complaint was filed by a well-known female journalist against businessman Slim Chiboub, accusing him of harassing her.
Arbia Ben Hamadi said he first began harassing her by carrying out a series of phone calls over a two-week period, in which he offered her a job at a TV channel, which she refused.
However, Chiboub insisted and made several more attempts to contact her before she gave her phone to her husband, a lawyer who submitted the complaint to the police and public prosecution.
Ben Hamadi asserted that she had not met Chiboub prior to this incident, adding that she had all the evidence that led to his arrest.
Chiboub has denied the accusations.
According to Chiboub’s lawyer, his client suffered a health problem during his arrest, forcing him to be transferred from prison to hospital.
He said he will appear before the public prosecution when he recovers.
Chiboub was pursued by the judiciary after the 2011 revolution, but he reached an agreement with the Tunisian state through the mediation of the Truth and Dignity Commission.
According to the reconciliation, the businessman paid 307 million dinars (about $102 million) in compensation to the state, in exchange for dropping all judicial charges against him.
The national law to combat violence against women, ratified in 2018, punishes whoever harasses women with a variety of penalties.
Any man who harasses a woman in public is required to pay a fine ranging from 500 dinars to 1,000 dinars (between 165 and 330 dollars). Those who sexually assault women are jailed for two years and finedf 5,000 dinars (about $1,600 dollars).
