Tunisia arrests prominent opponent Hammami to enforce 5-year jail term

Ayachi Hammami, a well-known opposition member in Tunisia, was arrested by police at his residence on Tuesday in order to serve a five-year prison sentence for conspiracy against state security, according to his family, who spoke to Reuters.

Last Monday, an appeals court sentenced scores of opposition leaders, including Hammami, businessmen, and attorneys, to up to 45 years in prison on charges of plotting to topple President Kais Saied.

The sentences were criticized as evidence of Saied’s growing authoritarianism.

In a video that his family uploaded to his Facebook site on Tuesday, Hammami, who was the human rights minister in 2020, stated, “If you are viewing this video, I have been arrested.”

“I have fought for democracy, freedom, and rights for years.” He said that he intended to go on a hunger strike. “I will turn my cell into a new front of struggle,” he declared.

In the same instance, police detained opposition leader Chaima Issa during a demonstration in Tunis last week in order to impose a 20-year prison sentence.

The opposition claims the accusations are false and are intended to use the legal system to silence Saied’s detractors.

According to authorities, the accused attempted to depose Saied and destabilize the nation. Among them are former officials and Kamel Guizani, the former head of intelligence.

No one is above the law, regardless of status or name, according to Saied, who claims he does not meddle with the legal system.

Judges who would acquit the politicians were accused of being their accomplices by the president, who called them “traitors and terrorists” when the case was first introduced in 2023.

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

In the case, which involved 40 prosecutions and was one of the biggest political prosecutions in Tunisia’s recent history, Chebbi was sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Twenty of the accused were sentenced in absentia and have since fled overseas.

Rights organizations claimed that Saied’s crackdown on dissent since he obtained exceptional powers in 2021 had escalated with the verdict and punishments. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch demanded that the sentences be immediately revoked.