An investigating judge at Tunisia’s Economic and Financial Judicial Pole issued a pre-trial detention order on Tuesday, September 8, 2026, against journalist Mohamed Yousfi, editor-in-chief of the news website Al Qatiba. The decision came after several days in police custody, marked by a 48-hour extension granted the previous day and an emergency hospitalization following a serious health episode. The detention order, issued in Tunis as part of an investigation into alleged illicit enrichment and money laundering, followed a fresh hearing of Yousfi before the investigating judge in charge of the case.
A detention order following a week in custody
The case dates back to Friday, September 4, when Mohamed Yousfi was arrested in Tunis outside the studios of a private radio station where he was due to appear on a broadcast. He was placed in custody that night, on the authorization of the investigating judge at the Economic and Financial Judicial Pole, over alleged illicit enrichment and money laundering, as part of an investigation entrusted to the National Guard’s central unit for complex financial crimes.
His custody was then extended by 48 hours on Monday, September 7, shortly after the journalist underwent emergency surgery following a health scare while in detention. It was at the end of that extension, and after a further hearing before the investigating judge, that the pre-trial detention order was issued on Tuesday, formally placing Mohamed Yousfi in detention as part of the judicial investigation against him.
A decision that follows a tense week
The detention order came a day after the National Union of Tunisian Journalists (SNJT) issued a statement calling for the journalist’s immediate release and criticizing the continuation of his custody despite his medical condition. The union had called for a press conference and a solidarity rally that same Tuesday outside the Economic and Financial Judicial Pole, on Avenue Mohamed V in Tunis, to demand his release.
The pre-trial detention order opens a new stage in the proceedings: pre-trial detention, whose duration will depend on how the ongoing judicial investigation unfolds. As of this writing, authorities had not publicly provided further details on the grounds cited by the investigating judge for the detention order.
A case closely watched by the profession
Mohamed Yousfi’s case is part of a series of judicial proceedings that have targeted journalists and commentators in Tunisia in recent months, including Zied El Heni, sentenced in May to one year in prison. Professional organizations and political parties have repeatedly voiced concern since the case began over the circumstances of Yousfi’s arrest and detention, as well as over the context preceding it.
An ongoing judicial process
The pre-trial detention order marks a significant step in a case that nonetheless remains at the investigation stage. It remains to be seen what further steps this judicial investigation will take, and how the mobilization within the profession, under way since the early days of the case, will continue in the coming days.
