Three Nabeul artists jailed for cannabis, freed on appeal
Police who raided filmmaker Ala Eddine Slim's Nabeul home on terrorism suspicions on 19 November 2015 instead charged Slim and two fellow artists with cannabis possession under Law 52. A court gave each man a year in prison and a 1,000-dinar fine, but the court of appeal acquitted all three and dismissed the case on 21 December 2015.
On 19 November 2015 around 15 armed police entered filmmaker Ala Eddine Slim’s home in Nabeul with a search warrant for suspected terrorist activity while Slim was hosting fellow artists Fakhri El-Ghezal and Atef Maatallah.[1][2]The officers found filming equipment and nothing pointing to terrorism, but seized joints and charged the three men with cannabis possession under Law 52, the 1992 anti-drug statute.[1][2]
After a week in detention in Nabeul and a trial lasting about ten minutes, each man received one year in prison and a 1,000-dinar fine.[2]They were moved to Mornag prison, where they spent about a month before the court of appealacquitted them and dismissed the case on 21 December 2015.[1][2]
The case drew attention to Law 52, under which drug use carried a one-year term, and the president later promised to amend it.[1][2]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
No quantity of cannabis or detail of the joints found was published.
Two other artists detained under the same law in the same period were still serving one-year terms when this appeal was decided, and their cases are separate events left out here.
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Officers of the Regional Anti-Narcotics Brigade in Sfax arrested a drug dealer classified as dangerous and wanted under 17 search notices after raiding a premises in El Aouabed. The operation seized 25 pieces of cannabis, a sharp instrument, three motorcycles and a sum of money, a security source told Mosaique FM.
National Guard officers in Medenine dismantled an international drug-trafficking network and arrested five people, including three network members and two wanted persons. Officers seized 250 grams of raw cocaine plus unspecified quantities of cannabis and narcotic pills, and referred all detainees to the judiciary.
Eight people were placed in provisional detention in Sousse after about 400 kg of cannabis resin was seized at a port on 27 September 2025. The eight faced charges over an alleged transnational drug organization, importing narcotics for sale and money laundering as investigators pursued possible accomplices.
