Tunisia Hands Long Sentences to Opposition Leaders in Trial Branded a ‘Farce’
In a move drawing global condemnation, a Tunisian court has sentenced more than 40 individuals — including top opposition figures, lawyers, and business leaders — to lengthy prison terms on terrorism and conspiracy charges.
The ruling targets leaders of the National Salvation Front, the main opposition coalition, many of whom were arrested in 2023. Two prominent detainees, Issam Chebbi and Jawhar Ben Mbarek, were each handed 18-year sentences, while activist and businessman Kamel Eltaief received a staggering 66-year term.
Most of the accused were tried in absentia, having fled the country amid escalating political repression. They were charged with “conspiring against state security” and “belonging to a terrorist group.”
Critics — including human rights organizations and legal experts — have decried the trial as a thinly veiled attempt by President Kais Saied to eliminate political rivals. “This is not a judiciary ruling, but a political decree,” said former minister Kamel Jendoubi. One defense attorney called the proceedings “a farce.”
Since suspending parliament in 2019 and securing re-election in 2024, President Saied has been accused of steering Tunisia into authoritarian rule. Amnesty International has warned of a “worrying decline in fundamental rights” under his regime, marked by a crackdown on dissent and jailing of critics.
Saied, however, defends his actions as a campaign against a “corrupt elite and traitors” who he claims have sabotaged Tunisia’s progress since the 2011 revolution that ousted long-time dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
With Tunisia once hailed as the Arab Spring’s democratic success story, the country now stands at a crossroads — battling growing discontent, economic turmoil, and international alarm over the erosion of civil liberties.
