Former Tunisian PM handed 34-year sentence, rejects ‘terrorism' charges
A Tunisian court has sentenced former Prime Minister Ali Larayedh to 34 years in prison over accusations he facilitated the departure of fighters to Syria – a charge the opposition figure strongly denies.
'I was neither sympathetic, nor complicit, nor neutral, nor lenient towards violence, terrorism,' Larayedh told the judge on Friday, rejecting what he and his Ennahdha party have called a politically motivated prosecution.
The ruling is the latest blow to the Ennahdha party, a major opposition force to President Kais Saied.
Larayedh, who served as prime minister from 2013 to 2014, has been in detention since 2022.
His sentencing comes just a week after the arrest of vocal Saied critic Ahmed Souab and new prison terms handed down to political opponents, media figures and businesspeople on various conspiracy charges.
According to state news agency TAP, the sentences apply to eight individuals, with prison terms ranging from 18 to 36 years. The court did not name those convicted alongside Larayedh.
Ennahdha denies all terrorism-related allegations, arguing that the case is part of a broader campaign against dissent that has intensified since Saied suspended parliament and assumed sweeping powers in 2021. The government maintains that Tunisia's judiciary is independent, rejecting claims of political interference.
Human rights groups, however, say the crackdown on opposition voices – including the jailing of Souab – marks a dangerous escalation. Many warn that democratic gains in the birthplace of the Arab Spring in the years since the 2011 revolution are being steadily rolled back.
Saied faced protests on Thursday as opponents took to the streets of Tunis, accusing him of using the judiciary and police to silence dissent.
The demonstration, the second in a week, comes amid growing alarm over what critics see as an authoritarian drift in the country that sparked the Arab Spring.
Marching down Habib Bourguiba Avenue, anti-Saied protesters chanted slogans including 'Saied go away, you are a dictator' and 'The people want the fall of the regime' – echoing the calls that fuelled the 2011 uprising that ousted former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
Supporters of Saied held a counter-rally on the same boulevard, shouting, 'No to foreign interference' and 'The people want Saied again'.
The opposition accuses Saied of undermining the democracy won in the 2011 revolution, since he seized extra powers in 2021 when he shut down the elected parliament and moved to rule by decree before assuming authority over the judiciary.
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