TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisia rejected on Thursday allegations from human rights campaigners that a new law setting out tough penalties for conspiring to harm the country's economy would suppress free speech.
Tunisia's parliament this week passed amendments to the penal code which make it a crime for anyone to incite foreigners not to invest in the north African nation, give it loans or sign trade deals with it.
Rights group Amnesty International said the government was using the measures to silence domestic criticism which it fears could derail talks underway with the European Union to grant Tunisia special trading partner status.
In a statement sent to Reuters, the Justice and Human Rights Ministry said the law was not a Tunisian invention and that France and Switzerland had similar legislation.
"This law adopted by parliament has nothing to do with freedom of opinion or speech and it does not criminalise the defence of human rights," the statement said.
