A couple caught kissing in their car near the Tunisian capital of Tunis was sentenced last week to several months behind bars after being convicted of public indecency, intoxication and insulting a public official.

Nassim Ouadi, a 33-year-old French-Algerian businessman originally from the French region of Provence, was slapped with a four-and-a-half-month sentence, according to his lawyer, while his girlfriend, an unidentified 44-year-old Tunisian, was given three months. In each case, two months of the sentences were for violation of public decency.

The case was widely condemned on social media, with people tweeting “shocking,” and “shame” and one suggesting people stay away from the country where “we imprison people for public kissing.”

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Detailing the case on Facebook in French, lawyer Ghazi Mrabet said Ouadi and his girlfriend had ordered a beer each at around midnight before setting off in their car at around 2 a.m. They had stopped to discuss the route and after around two minutes, a police car arrived and asked for identity documents.

Couple jailed in Tunisia after being caught kissing in their car https://t.co/bTIKA4WJn7 pic.twitter.com/nnGxE252Eg — Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) October 6, 2017

The woman produced hers, but Ouadi — who does not speak Arabic — was insulted by the police officer and forced to the ground.

After handing over his passport, which was in a suitcase in the trunk, police checked all of the baggage and then went through the car, even lifting the rugs.

The two were taken to a police station but released after 20 minutes, when Ouadi told the officers, “You think this is going to stop here? I want your names and numbers. I intend to speak to my embassy.”

Ouadi was then accused of contempt of a public official, indecent assault and refusal to obey the police.

Do not come to Tunisia nor in the winter nor in the summer we imprison people for public kissing#Tunisia#دولة_الخلافة #Tunisiaisnotsafe — Houssaine Yousfi (@YHoussaine) October 5, 2017

The Middle East Eye news site quoted Mrabet, who has defended Tunisian rappers and young people accused of smoking cannabis in the past, as saying he was surprised by “the speed of judgment” but also “the many procedural flaws” during the arrest.

In July, Human Rights Watch said it had documented “a pattern of cases against people who filed a complaint or announced their intention to do so, after police officers allegedly insulted, arbitrary arrested, or assaulted them.

“The people who allege abuse find themselves facing charges of ‘insulting a public officer during the performance of his duties,’ punishable by up to one year in prison.”