Tunisian court hands prison sentences of up to 66 years in mass trial of regime opponents

A Tunisian court has imposed prison terms ranging from 13 to 66 years on politicians, businesspeople, and attorneys in a collective trial that critics claim is contrived and represents President Kais Saied’s despotic governance.

Businessman Kamel Ltaif was sentenced to 66 years, the longest sentence given on Saturday, while opposition politician Khayam Turki received a 48-year prison term, according to a lawyer representing the defendants.

The court additionally imposed prison terms of 18 years on notable opposition leaders such as Ghazi Chaouachi, Issam Chebbi, Jawahar Ben Mbarek, and Ridha Belhaj. They have been detained since 2023. Forty individuals were being tried in the case that commenced in March. Over 20 have escaped overseas since facing charges.

Saied won a second five-year term in 2024, obtaining 90.7% of the votes following his rise to power in 2019. Rights organizations assert that he has maintained complete authority over the judiciary since dissolving parliament in 2021 and started governing through decrees. In 2022, he disbanded the independent supreme judicial council and dismissed numerous judges.

“We are not surprised by these unjust and vengeful verdicts that seek to silence the voices of these opposition figures,” Chaouachi’s son Youssef said

“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 defence lawyer Ahmed Souab on Friday before the ruling was handed down.

Authorities say the defendants, who also include former officials and the former head of intelligence Kamel Guizani, tried to destabilise the country and overthrow Saied.

“The authorities want to criminalise the opposition,” said the leader of the main National Salvation Front opposition coalition, Nejib Chebbi, on Friday. Chebbi was also among the defendants.

In 2023, Saied referred to politicians as “traitors and terrorists,” stating that judges who acquit them are their collaborators. The leaders of the opposition connected to the case allege that Saied orchestrated a coup in 2021 and claim the case is concocted to suppress dissent and create an authoritarian, singular rule.

They claim they were working on an initiative designed to unite the divided opposition to confront the democratic regression in the heart of the Arab spring revolts. Many of the political party leaders in Tunisia are incarcerated, such as Abir Moussi, the leader of the Free Constitutional Party, and Rached Ghannouchi, the head of Ennahda – two key adversaries of Saied.