Subsequently, police officers accused Hamza of deliberately making an obscene gesture with his finger toward the police. In his statement, Hamza Nasri declared that he “participated, like other citizens, in a peaceful march calling for the improvement of civil, political, economic, and social rights of the Tunisian people. During the crowd dispersal, he was assaulted by individuals whom he did not know to be police officers in plain clothes or other persons.”
In contrast, police officers claimed that activist Hamza Nasri attempted to assault them and made obscene gestures directed at them while they were carrying out their duties.
He was charged with offending a public official by word and gesture, pursuant to Article 125 of the Penal Code.Since 18 January 2021, following his release from detention and while remaining at liberty, two hearings were held the first on 9 December 2021 and the second on 24 January 2022. On 31 January 2022, the judgment was delivered. The Criminal Chamber of the Tunis Court of First Instance sentenced Hamza, in a first-instance ruling considered rendered in his presence, to three months’ imprisonment, although he was absent from the courtroom at the time of the trial.
