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According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (no relation), blogger and journalist Slim Boukhdhir, who was arrested on November 27, has been sentenced by the Tunisian authorities to one year in prison.

A court in Sakiet Ezziet, in the suburbs of Sfax, Tunisia’s second-largest city after Tunis, sentenced Slim Boukhdhir, a well-known blogger and contributor to the London-based Al-Quds al-Arabi to eight months for verbally assaulting a public employee while on duty and four months for violating public decency both crimes under Tunisia’s Penal Code. Boukhdhir was also fined, under the 1993 national identity card law, 5 Tunisian dinars (the equivalent of US$4) for “refusing to show his identification card to a public security agent.”

Verbal assault? That’s a new one.

On Monday, police in Sfax, Tunisia’s second largest city, detained Slim Boukhdhir, a well-known blogger and contributor to the London-based Al-Quds Al Arabi. He was charged with “aggression against a public employee” and “violation of public morality standards,” according to the journalist’s lawyer. Under the penal code, the charges could bring 18 months in prison. Boukhdhir was also charged under a 1993 national identity card law with “refusal to show his identification card to a public security agent.” He could be fined under that law.

A court in the suburban city of Sakiet Ezzeit denied his release today. The hearing is scheduled to resume on December 4. Authorities did not disclose the basis for the charges.