A Tunisia court sentenced opposition figures, businessmen and lawyers to prison terms aged 13 to 66 after being found guilty of conspiracy against state security, state media reported on Saturday.
The opposition said that the accusations had been manufactured and that the trial was a symbol of the authoritarian domination of the Kais Saied president.
What do we know about the case?
The TAP press agency first pointed out the sentences that went from 13 to 66 years, quoting a legal spokesperson saying that they had been applied immediately.
Forty people were continued in the case, although more than half of them fled abroad after being charged.
The Tunisian media said that the accused had been found guilty of “conspiracy against state security and belonging to a terrorist group”.
Authorities say the accused tried to destabilize the country and overthrow Saied.
Many of those imprisoned were vocal criticism of the president, notably Nejib Chebbi, the head of the main national coalition of the salvation opposition front.
Chebbi told journalists before Friday’s conviction that the trial had proven that the Tunisian authorities wanted to “criminalize the opposition”.
Others include Chebbi’s brother Issam Chebbi, the centrist republican party leader, Ghazi Chaouachi, the chief of the center-left, and Abdelhamid Jelassi, Ennahda, an Islamic democratic movement.
A former intelligence chief Kamel Guizan was also one of the accused.
Speaking just before the hearing of sentence determining, defense lawyer Ahmed Souab described the trial as a “farce”.
The trial began in March, but was postponed twice. Journalists and civil society groups were prohibited from attending it.
What has the Saied Kais President has done since his entry into office?
After Tunisia has become the only democracy of the Arab Spring, Saiey was elected on an anti-corruption populist platform in 2019.
Two years later, he organized a radical takeover, dissolving the Parliament and the decision by decree.
Since then, Saied has supervised the rejection of the judiciary and the arrest of his main political rivals.
He was re -elected in October during a vote in the first round described by observers as a sham, in the midst of a record participation rate.
Human rights groups have repeatedly raised concerns about the Saied rule.
In a recent report, Human Rights Watch said that Tunisia has experienced “increased dependence on arbitrary detention and politically motivated prosecution to intimidate, punish and silence its criticism”.
Saiey rejects the accusations that he is a dictator and says that he fights chaos and the corruption that rages among the political elite.
Published by: Sean Sinico
