Tunisian opposition figures sentenced to up to 66 years in prison

TUNIS – A court in Tunisia has sentenced leading opposition figures to between 13 and 66 years in prison in the climax of a major trial accusing 40 people of conspiring against state security, according to Tunisian media reports.

Activists called the case baseless and politically motivated. Tunisian President Kais Saied has rolled back many freedoms the North African country gained after spawning the Arab Spring pro-democracy uprisings in 2011.

Those accused in the trial include former diplomats, business leaders, journalists, lawyers and human rights defenders, and some have spent more than two years in pre-trial detention. Others have fled abroad.

The trial began in March and wrapped up late Friday and early Saturday with the court handing down sentences of between 13 and 66 years to prominent opposition leaders, according to official news agency TAP and local radio Jawahra FM.

TAP quoted a substitute prosecutor as saying they were found guilty of conspiracy against state security and belonging to a terror group. The trial was held in a special criminal court for terrorism cases.

Lawyers in the huge and high-profile case told Tunisian media that it was unclear how many of the 40 defendants were given prison terms.

Former Tunisian legislator Said Ferjani was convicted to 13 years in prison, his daughter Kaouther Ferjani posted on X. Describing it as “yet another fabricated conspiracy case,” she said that other figures from Islamist party Ennahdha were also among those sentenced.

Tunisia’s president, re-elected for a second term last year, says the defendants are “traitors and terrorists” because they accuse him of staging a coup in 2021.

Several critics, including the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, have accused Saied’s government of using the judiciary to stifle dissent since 2021, when he dissolved parliament and expanded executive authority.

Human Rights Watch released a report this week outlining how Tunisia has expanded the use of politically motivated arrests and prosecutions to intimidate and silence critics. It said authorities in recent years have targeted lawyers, judges, journalists and activists in a crackdown on Saied’s critics.