Tunisia’s current administration has seen its challenge to power lessened after several of its opponents were convicted by a Tunisian court.
- Opposition leaders, businessmen, and lawyers in Tunisia have received harsh sentences, some as long as 66 years in prison, on charges of conspiracy
- Around 40 people were sentenced with 20 fleeing the country since the crackdown began
- President Saied had disbanded the independent Supreme Judicial Council and removed hundreds of judges from office in 2022
Recent reports show that opposition leaders, businessmen, and lawyers in the North African country of Tunisia have been handed harsh sentences of as much as 13 to 66 years in prison, on charges of conspiring.
As reported by Reuters, around 40 people were on the receiving end of the sentencing, while 20 have fled the country since the crackdown began.
Some had been in prison as far back as 2023, including Ghazi Chaouachi, Issam Chebbi, Jawahar Ben Mbrak, Abdelhamid Jlassi, Ridha Belhaj, and Khyam Turki, all opposition defendants.
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“In my entire life, I have never witnessed a trial like this. It’s a farce, the rulings are ready, and what is happening is scandalous and shameful,” said lawyer Ahmed Souab, who represents the defendants, on Friday before the ruling was handed down.
Outside of the sentencing duration, no other information about the case was disclosed, as noted by a judicial official.
The ruling has since received a lot of backlash from rights groups and, of course, opposition members.
They claim that the case is a hoax, as the president of the country, Kais Saied, has seized control of the judicial system, given that in 2022, he disbanded the independent Supreme Judicial Council and removed hundreds of judges from office.
As rationale, authorities in the country claim that those sentenced, who also include former officials and the former head of intelligence, Kamel Guizani, intended to disrupt the government and depose the current president.
In 2023, President Kais remarked that politicians were “traitors and terrorists” and that judges who would acquit them were their accomplices, as seen in the Reuters report.
Opposition leaders in the case allege that President Saied orchestrated a coup in 2021 and claim the charges against them are politically motivated, intended to silence dissent and pave the way for authoritarian rule.
They assert that they had been working on a plan to bring together the divided opposition in response to what they view as a serious blow to democracy in the birthplace of the Arab Spring.
Protest against President Kais Saied
Last year, in Sepetember, hundreds of Tunisians took to the streets to protest President Kais Saied, who has been accused of exploiting his authority to repress political opposition ahead of the 2018 presidential election.
This rally was connected to the arrest of two Tunisian media practitioners, both of whom obtained one-year prison terms for remarks deemed critical by the government, in the most recent convictions under Saied’s Decree 54, which outlaws the “distribution of fake news, as reported by Aljazerra.
Six journalists were imprisoned after Saeid’s Decree 54 went into effect. Furthermore, the directive resulted in the prosecution of over 60 journalists, lawyers, and opposition activists.
There was also a counter protest in the same month as hundreds of people rallied in Tunis in support of President Kais Saied chanting “The people want Kais Saied,” despite considerable reproach at home and abroad following a wave of arrests of journalists, activists, and attorneys.
