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Tunisia Frees Cartoonist after His Arrest over Drawings Mocking PM

Policemen stand guard in Tunis. (Reuters)
Policemen stand guard in Tunis. (Reuters)
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Tunisia Frees Cartoonist after His Arrest over Drawings Mocking PM

Policemen stand guard in Tunis. (Reuters)
Policemen stand guard in Tunis. (Reuters)

Tunisia's public prosecutor on Friday released the cartoonist Tawfiq Omrane, after he was detained for hours over drawings mocking the prime minister.
Omrane is well known for publishing satirical cartoons featuring President Kais Saied, who seized almost all powers two years ago after he shut down Tunisia's elected parliament.
"They interrogated me on suspicion of insulting the prime minister. They showed a drawing that they considered offensive", Omrane told Diwan FM Tunisian radio.
Omrane pledged that he would continue his satirical drawings.
Ahmed Hachani is the prime minister, appointed last month to replace Najla Bouden.
Many Tunisians see free speech as a principal reform won after the 2011 revolution that toppled President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Activists, journalists and politicians have warned this freedom is under threat.
"Omrane's arrest reinforces authorities' efforts to suppress critical voices of the president," said Amira Mohamed, a senior official at the country's Journalists' Syndicate.
Kais Saied strongly criticized state TV in a speech this week, including the arrangement of headlines in a bulletin, in a move that the Journalists Syndicate said was "blatant interference".
Saied rejects accusations of targeting freedoms and has said he will never be a dictator.

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Syria Swears in New Transitional Government

29 March 2025, Syria, Damascus: Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa speaks during the ceremony announcing the new Syrian government at the People's Palace. Photo: Moawia Atrash/dpa
29 March 2025, Syria, Damascus: Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa speaks during the ceremony announcing the new Syrian government at the People's Palace. Photo: Moawia Atrash/dpa
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Syria Swears in New Transitional Government

29 March 2025, Syria, Damascus: Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa speaks during the ceremony announcing the new Syrian government at the People's Palace. Photo: Moawia Atrash/dpa
29 March 2025, Syria, Damascus: Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa speaks during the ceremony announcing the new Syrian government at the People's Palace. Photo: Moawia Atrash/dpa

Syria’s new transitional government was sworn in Saturday nearly four months after the Assad family was removed from power and as the new authorities in Damascus work to bring back stability to the war-torn country.

The 23-member Cabinet, which is religiously and ethnically mixed, is the first in the country’s five-year transitional period and replaces the interim government that was formed shortly after Bashar Assad was removed from power in early December, The Associated Press reported.

The Cabinet does not have a prime minister since according to the temporary constitution signed by interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa earlier this month, the government will have a secretary general.

The government that was announced ahead of Eid el-Fitr, the feast that marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan that starts in Syria on Monday, includes new faces apart from the ministers of foreign affairs and defense. They kept the posts they held in the interim government. Syria's new Interior Minister Anas Khattab was until recently the head of the intelligence department.

“The formation of a new government today is a declaration of our joint will to build a new state,” al-Sharaa said in a speech marking the formation of the government.

Defense Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra said his main goal will be to build a professional army “from the people and for the people.”

The government did not include members of the US-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces or the autonomous civil administration in northeast Syria. Al-Sharaa and SDF commander Mazloum Abdi signed a breakthrough deal earlier this month in Damascus on a nationwide ceasefire and the merging of the US-backed force into the Syrian army.

Among the new ministers whose names were announced late Saturday night were Hind Kabawat, a Christian activist who was opposed to Assad since the conflict began in March 2011. Kabawat was named minister of minister of social affairs and labor.

Another minister is Raed Saleh, who for years headed the Syrian Civil Defense, also known as White Helmets, and was named minister for emergency disasters. A Damascus-based Syrian Kurd, Mohammed Terko was named minister of education.

Mohammed al-Bashir, who has headed Syria’s interim government since Assad’s fall, was named minister of energy whose main mission will be to restore the electricity and oil sectors that were badly damaged during the conflict.