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Muscat Daily
19-04-2025
- Politics
- Muscat Daily
Tunisia jails opposition leaders for up to 66 years
Tunis, Tunisia – A court in Tunisia sentenced opposition figures, businessmen and lawyers to jail terms of 13 to 66 years after they were found guilty of conspiring against state security, state media reported on Saturday. The opposition said the charges were fabricated and that the trial was a symbol of President Kais Saied's authoritarian rule. What do we know about the case? State news agency TAP first reported the sentences that ranged from 13 to 66 years, citing a judicial spokesperson as saying they were enforced immediately. Forty people were prosecuted in the case, although more than half of them fled abroad after being charged. Tunisian media outlets reported that the defendants were found guilty of 'conspiracy against state security and belonging to a terrorist group'. Authorities say the defendants tried to destabilise the country and overthrow Saied. Many of those jailed were vocal critics of the president, including Nejib Chebbi, the leader of the main National Salvation Front opposition coalition. Chebbi told reporters before Friday's sentencing that the trial proved that Tunisian authorities wanted to 'criminalise the opposition'. Others include Chebbi's brother, Issam Chebbi, the leader of the centrist Republican Party, Ghazi Chaouachi, the head of the centre-left Democratic Current party, and Abdelhamid Jelassi, from Ennahda, an Islamic democratic movement. A former head of intelligence, Kamel Guizan, was also one of the defendants. Speaking just before the sentencing hearing, defence lawyer Ahmed Souab described the trial as a 'farce'. The trial began in March, but was postponed twice. Journalists and civil society groups were barred from attending. Staging a sweeping power grab After Tunisia emerged as the only democracy from the Arab Spring, Saied was elected on a populist anti-corruption platform in 2019. Two years later, he staged a sweeping power grab, dissolving the parliament and ruling by decree. Since then, Saied has overseen the dismissal of the judiciary and the arrest of his main political rivals. He was reelected in October in a first-round vote described by observers as a sham, amid a record low turnout. Human rights groups have repeatedly raised concerns about Saied's rule. In a recent report, Human Rights Watch said Tunisia has seen an 'increased reliance on arbitrary detention and politically motivated prosecutions to intimidate, punish and silence its critics'. Saied rejects accusations that he is a dictator and says he is fighting chaos and corruption that is rampant among the political elite. DW
Al Jazeera
19-04-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Tunisian court hands opposition figures lengthy jail terms
Dozens of opposition figures in Tunisia have been handed lengthy prison terms on national security charges, according to state media. A number of the North African country's most senior opposition politicians were among 40 people sentenced on Saturday, including a former justice minister and diplomats. Critics insist the charges are trumped up and say they are symbolic of President Kais Saied's authoritarian rule. The TAP state news agency, quoting an unnamed judicial official, reported that the sentences ranged from 13 to 66 years. An official from the anti-terrorism prosecutor's office was quoted by Jawhara FM as saying the defendants were found guilty of 'conspiracy against state security', and 'belonging to a terrorist group', including liaising with 'foreign powers' to undermine Saied's rule. The precise details of the trial remain cloudy, with the exact number of those on trial and the specific charges they face unclear. It was not immediately clear either on Saturday whether all of the estimated 40 defendants in the case, which has become known as the 'conspiracy case' and been running for two years or so, were found guilty and given prison terms. About 20, many of whom have fled Tunisia, were sentenced in absentia, including the French intellectual, Bernard-Henri Levy, who is accused of being a conduit between defendants and foreign parties. 'President Saied has weaponised Tunisia's judicial system to go after political opponents and dissidents, throwing people in arbitrary detention on flimsy evidence and pursuing them with abusive prosecutions,' Bassam Khawaja, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch, told Al Jazeera earlier this month. On Friday evening, defence lawyers denounced the trial after the judge finished reading the accusations and began deliberation without hearing from either the prosecution or the defence. 'In my entire life, I have never witnessed a trial like this. It's a farce, the rulings are ready, and what is happening is scandalous and shameful,' said lawyer Ahmed Souab. Authorities have accused the defendants, who also include the former head of intelligence, Kamel Guizani, as well as media figures, of attempting to destabilise the country and overthrow Saied. A number of the defendants – including Issam Chebbi, Ghazi Chaouachi and Jawhar Ben Mubarak – have been in custody since being detained in 2023. Chebbi is a member of the opposition National Salvation Front coalition. 'The authorities want to criminalise the opposition,' Chebbi said on Friday. Saied rejects accusations that he is a dictator. He said in 2023 that the accused politicians were 'traitors and terrorists' and that any judge who would acquit them would be an accomplice. Saied consolidated his power in 2021 by dissolving the parliament and sacking the then-prime minister. The opposition leaders involved in the case accused him of staging a 'coup'. They say the charges against them were fabricated to stifle the opposition and establish a one-man, repressive rule. Some of Tunisia's most prominent opposition leaders are already in prison. Rached Ghannouchi, the head of Ennahdha, was arrested in April 2023 and sentenced to one year in prison on charges of incitement. Earlier this year, he was handed a further 22-year sentence on charges that included plotting against state security. He was also sentenced to three years for accusations that his party received foreign contributions.
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trial of Tunisian opposition figures resumes, 6 on hunger strike
The trial of dozens of Tunisian opposition figures resumed on Tuesday under tight security, with six detained defendants on hunger strike after they were barred from attending court in person. Foreign diplomats were in court to monitor the trial of around 40 high-profile accused. They include activists, politicians, lawyers and media figures, some of whom have been vocal critics of President Kais Saied. Saied, elected after Tunisia emerged as the only democracy from the Arab Spring, staged a sweeping power grab in 2021. Rights groups have since raised concerns over a rollback on freedoms. The accused face charges including "plotting against the state security" and "belonging to a terrorist group", according to lawyers, which could entail hefty sentences and even capital punishment. Tunisia's judiciary had ruled when the trial opened on March 4 that the defendants would only be allowed to attend Friday's hearing remotely. Six of them, including jurist Jawhar Ben Mbarek and a former leader of the Islamist party Ennahdha, Abdelhamid Jelassi, have gone on hunger strike to demand permission to attend the hearing in person, their defence team said. "The defence asks that the hearing be suspended and the accused be brought before their lawyers," said one of their legal counsel, Abelaziz Essid. "We cannot make our arguments under these conditions and we refuse to be false witnesses." According to an AFP journalist, security was tight at the entrance to the courtroom in the Tunisian capital. - NGOs denied access - Representatives of France, Canada, Germany the Netherlands and European Union attended the hearing. Local NGOs were, however, not given access and only one relative of each accused was allowed entry. Ahmed Nejib Chebbi, who heads the main opposition coalition the National Salvation Front and is also named in the case, called the accusations "wild fabrications". The defence lawyers say that Chebbi, along with several other defendants, is accused of holding contacts deemed suspicious with foreign diplomats. Several of the defendants were arrested in February 2023, after which Saied labelled them "terrorists". Others, like Chebbi, have remained free pending trial, while some have fled abroad, according to the defence committee. Human Rights Watch has dubbed the trial a "mockery" based on "abusive charges". In February, the leader of the Ennahdha party, Rached Ghannouchi, 83, was sentenced to an additional 22 years in prison for plotting against state security. Ennahdha has been Tunisia's main opposition party and the main rival to Saied. The United Nations urged Tunisian authorities last month to bring "an end to the pattern of arrests, arbitrary detentions and imprisonment of dozens of human rights defenders, lawyers, journalists, activists and politicians". Tunisia's foreign ministry at the time dismissed the UN statement with "astonishment" and denounced its "inaccuracies". "Tunisia can give lessons to those who think they are in a position to make statements," it said. kl/iba/it/ser
