Tunisian TV boss freed after a year in prison

Demonstrators hold pictures of Sami El-Fehri, jailed boss of the Ettounsiya TV channel, as they shout slogans calling for his release outside the court in Tunis on April 15, 2013. (AFP/File)

TUNIS (AFP) – Tunisian television chief Sami Fehri walked free on Wednesday after more than a year in jail, which his supporters described as an attempt by the government to silence its critics.

A smiling Fehri, who runs private Ettounsiya TV, left the Mornaguia prison in a suburb of the capital at around 1800 GMT, and was met by supporters, lawyers and his wife, an AFP journalist reported.