Rached Tamboura is a Tunisian street artist, calligraphy student and freelance graphic designer from Monastir who was imprisoned for artistic expression criticising President Kais Saied and the government’s treatment of sub-Saharan migrants. He was arrested during the night of 17 to 18 July 2023 shortly after painting a series of graffiti murals in Monastir denouncing racist rhetoric and migration policies adopted by the Tunisian authorities following President Kais Saied’s February 2023 statements targeting migrants from sub-Saharan Africa. One mural depicted the president’s face alongside the words “racist”, “vassal”, “greed” and “fascist” next to the African continent. The authorities prosecuted Rached Tamboura under Article 67 of the Penal Code for “offending the president” and Article 24 of Decree-Law 54 concerning alleged dissemination of false information through communication networks. On 04 December 2023, the Monastir Court of First Instance sentenced him to two years in prison in a case widely condemned by Tunisian and international human rights organisations as a direct attack on freedom of artistic expression and dissent. In January 2024, the Monastir Court of Appeal upheld the sentence. Human rights groups stressed that the prosecution relied on overly broad and repressive legislation increasingly used against critics of the authorities since President Kais Saied’s consolidation of power in 2021. Tamboura was initially detained in Zaghouan Prison before later being held in Mornaguia Prison. His case became emblematic of the shrinking civic space in Tunisia and of the criminalisation of artistic and political expression under Decree-Law 54. International organisations argued that his murals constituted peaceful political expression protected under international human rights law and called for his immediate and unconditional release. On 17 July 2025, after serving his full sentence, Tamboura was released from Mornaguia Prison.