A Tunisian lawyer, whose arrest in May sparked international criticism, was provisionally released on Thursday while awaiting other proceedings, his lawyer told AFP.
"The indictment chamber of the Court of Appeal decided on the provisional release of Mehdi Zegrouba," who is still being prosecuted in other cases, his lawyer, Boubaker Ben Thabet, said.
Zagrouba was arrested in a police raid on the Tunisian bar association headquarters on May 13 – the second in three days – in what the bar called an "abuse of power."
He was later admitted to hospital for treatment for injuries sustained while in custody, his lawyer and Tunisian League for the Defence of Human Rights chief Bassem Trifi said.
'Alarming information'
Amnesty International said "alarming information has emerged indicating that Tunisian lawyer Mehdi Zagrouba was tortured in police custody after his arrest."
The interior ministry denied any wrongdoing by police, saying that it was "physical and verbal violence" against officers that had prompted Zegrouba's arrest.
He was detained just two days after police arrested lawyer Sonia Dahmani in a previous raid on the bar association. She was handed a one-year sentence on Saturday.
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said in a joint statement on May 30 that Tunisian authorities' crackdown on critical voices was "methodically annihilating" what little remains of Tunisia's hard-won freedoms.
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