Chaima Issa, an opposition politician, is arrested by Tunisian authorities and given a 20-year jail sentence

Chaima Issa, a well-known opposition figure, was arrested by Tunisian police on Saturday at a demonstration in the country’s capital, Tunis, in order to carry out a 20-year prison sentence, according to her attorneys.

On Friday, an appeals court sentenced opposition leaders, business executives, and attorneys to up to 45 years in prison on conspiracy charges, opening a fresh avenue for the overthrow of President Kais Saied. Critics saw this as evidence of the government’s growing authoritarianism.

Issa and two other convicted lawmakers urged the divided opposition to band together and intensify protests against Saied at the protest, shortly before Issa was arrested.

According to Issa, “They will arrest me shortly,” she told Reuters. “I urge the Tunisians to keep up their protests and stand up against oppression. For you, we are giving up our independence.

She said the accusations were politically driven and unfair.

We anticipate further arrests.

Najib Chebbi, the leader of the largest coalition opposing Saied, the National Salvation Front, is also anticipated to be arrested by police.

At the demonstration, Chebbi, who received a 12-year prison sentence, told Reuters, “We will not gain freedom except by unity.”

Opposition leader Ayachi Hammami admitted, “We are ready for prison, we are not afraid,” after receiving a five-year sentence. “I hope that the youth will expand protests until the authorities reconsider, or else be swept away by the will of the people.”

According to Saied, he is battling mercenaries, crooked individuals, and traitors. He charges that foreign funding is being given to civil society organizations in order to meddle in Tunisian affairs.

In one of the biggest political prosecutions in Tunisia’s recent history, forty people were charged. Twenty of the accused were sentenced in absentia and have since fled overseas.

According to a court document obtained by Reuters, the punishments varied from five to forty-five years.

The decision, according to rights organizations, was an intensification of Saied’s suppression of opposition since he took exceptional powers in 2021. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch demanded that the sentences be immediately revoked.

Independent NGOs have been suspended, and critics, journalists, and activists have been imprisoned.