Tunisia sentences opposition leaders to prison terms ranging from five to forty-five years

A court record from Friday showed that an appeals court in Tunisia put opposition leaders, businessmen, and lawyers in jail for up to 45 years. This was seen as a sign by critics of President Kais Saied’s increasingly authoritarian rule.

In one of the biggest political trials in recent Tunisian history, forty people were charged with plotting to remove the president. Twenty of the accused have fled to another country and were convicted while they were not there.

A court paper seen by Reuters said the sentences ranged from five to forty-five years.

Some rights groups, like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, said the case shows how Saied has been cracking down on criticism even more since he took over extrajudicial powers in 2021.

Independent NGOs have been shut down, and critics, reporters, and activists have been jailed.

“This court is a joke…” Mokthar Jmai, a lawyer for the suspects, said Thursday after the trial, “It is clear that the goal is to kill political opponents.”

Authorities say the suspects, who include former government officials and Kamel Guizani, who used to be head of intelligence, tried to make the country unstable and remove Saied from power.

A lawyer for the suspects named Dalila ben Mbarek said that well-known opposition figures like Ghazi Chaouachi, Issam Chebbi, Jawahar Ben Mbarek, and Ridha Belhaj were given 20-year prison sentences. Neureddine Bhiri, a politician, was given a ten-year prison term.

Since they were arrested in 2023, they have all been in jail.

The well-known opposition leader Chaima Issa got 20 years in prison, Nejib Chebbi, who leads the biggest opposition coalition called the National Salvation Front, got 12 years, and Ayachi Hammami got 5 years.

The three are currently free, but the police are likely to arrest them soon.

Businessman Kamel Ltaif got the highest sentence of 45 years, while opposition politician Khyam Turki got 35 years.

Rights groups say that Saied has been in charge of the courts since he dissolved parliament in 2021 and fired dozens of judges and the independent Supreme Judicial Council in 2022.

The leaders of the opposition say the case is made up and have accused the president of purging the government of politicians. They say they want to bring together the divided opposition to fight back against the loss for democracy.

According to Saied, lawmakers were “traitorous and terrorists” in 2023, and judges who acquitted them were working with them.