Tunisia hands prison terms to dozens of opposition figures

A Tunisian court issued prison sentences for dozens of opposition leaders, lawyers, and businessmen accused of trying to overthrow the Tunisian president.

Forty people, including opposition leader Jawahar Ben Mubarak, were sentenced to sentences ranging from four to 45 years for allegedly plotting to overthrow President Kais Saied.

Twenty of the defendants fled abroad and were sentenced in absentia, while others have remained in detention since 2023.

Human rights groups have criticized the trial as politically motivated, and described the prosecutions as an escalation of Saied’s crackdown on dissent since he suspended Tunisia’s parliament in 2021 and began ruling by decree.

Tunisian authorities say the defendants, including former intelligence chief Kamel al-Qizani, tried to destabilize the country and overthrow Saied.

Ben Mubarak and party leaders Issam Chebbi and Ghazi Chaouachi received 20-year prison sentences. All three have been detained since the 2023 crackdown.

Businessman Kamel Latif was sentenced to 45 years in prison, while opposition politician Khayyam Turki was sentenced to 35 years in prison.

Ben Mubarak had been on a hunger strike for more than a month and was at risk of death, according to what the French news agency reported, citing his sister and lawyer Dalila Ben Mubarak.

Human rights groups say that among those sentenced in absentia are politician and feminist activist Bouchra Belhaj Hamida, as well as French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy.

The final rulings were issued by the Court of Appeal after the initial ruling on opposition figures in April. Saeed had described them as “terrorists.”

Reuters quoted the defendants’ lawyer as describing the trial as a “farce” with a “clear intention to eliminate political opponents.”

Human rights groups also criticized the trials.

Sarah Hashash, Deputy Regional Director of Amnesty International, described the sentences as “unjust” and “a shocking indictment of the Tunisian judicial system.”

She said that while the Court of Appeal acquitted three defendants, it increased the sentences imposed on others.

“The Court of Appeal also automatically approved the government’s use of the judicial system to eliminate political opposition.”

After the initial ruling in April, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said the trial raised “serious concerns about political motivations” and urged the Tunisian government to “refrain from using broad national security and counter-terrorism legislation to silence dissent.”

On Saturday, thousands of Tunisians marched in the capital, Tunis, in an anti-government protest, accusing Saied of promoting one-man rule through the judiciary and police.

Saied was elected in 2019 after Tunisia’s exit from the Arab Spring democratic movement.

But the North African country has since seen democratic backsliding and the reimposition of aspects of authoritarian rule.